QBE boss John Neal says it will take some time to turn around the insurance giant from its first full year loss since the September 11 attacks in the US.

QBE suffered a net loss of $US254 million ($A282 million) in 2013 due to its troubled US business.

The company had flagged the loss in December when it announced more than $US1 billion in writedowns in the US business, where it experienced higher than expected accident claims and was impacted by the worst drought in 50 years.

Mr Neal expects the insurer to deliver a significantly improved performance in 2014, and is flagging a return to profitability from the US operations.

He also expects the company’s insurance margin – a measure of the profit it makes from its premiums – to lift to around 10 per cent, after sliding to 5.5 per cent in 2013.

But he said it would be 2015 before QBE returns to its former levels of profitability.

“What I’m flagging gently is: for the business to return to the levels of profitability we are looking for universally across QBE’s business, that might take another 12 months, through to 2015,” he said.

Investors expressed relief the result was not worse than the company had forecast, pushing QBE shares up 54 cents, or 4.6 per cent, to $12.19 by 1531 AEDT on Tuesday.

QBE shares dived more than 20 per cent on the day it announced the writedowns in December.

The company made a cash profit, which excludes one off costs, of $US761 million in 2013, down from $US1.04 billion in 2012.

Premiums from its Australian and New Zealand operations lifted four per cent during the year, while the company’s European, Latin American and Asian businesses also recorded solid premium growth.

But that was offset by a $US715 million slide in gross written premium from the US business.

Meanwhile, income from the company’s investment arm fell 34 per cent to $US801 million.