Canadian property and casualty insurers have returned to profitability in 2009, with a survey of 39 firms revealing a collective underwriting profit of $C213 million ($227 million).

A report by French reinsurer Scor says profitability among Canadian insurers improved from a loss of $C196.3 million ($209.7 million) the previous year, but remained well below the $C1.07 billion ($1.14 billion) the same companies earned in 2007.

The combined ratio reflects lower profitability in recent years at 99.13%, compared to 101.37% in 2008. Insurers earlier recorded a combined ratio of 94.16% during a strong 2007 performance.