Liberty Mutual Q1 Saw Better Underwriting Results, Strong Specialty Insurance

Liberty Mutual Holding Co. Inc. and its subsidiaries reported net income of $671 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019, an increase of $23 million or 3.5% over the same period in 2018.

Consolidated net income for the quarter was $671 million, an increase of $22 million or 3.4% over the same period in 2018.

Net written premium for the quarter was $9.699 billion, an increase of $265 million or 2.8% over the same period in 2018. The increase was primarily produced by strong performance in specialty insurance, the company said.

The consolidated combined ratio before catastrophes for the first quarter was 92.9, a decrease of 2.3 points from the same period in 2018. Including the impact of catastrophes and net incurred losses attributable to prior years, the total combined ratio4 for the three months ended March 31, 2019 was 96.3, a decrease of 2.7 points from the same period in 2018.

David H. Long, Liberty Mutual chairman and chief executive officer, said the earnings increase was “driven by improved underwriting margins” and the benefit of unrealized gains related to equity securities.

During the first quarter, the Boston-based insurer announced two transactions. One was an agreement to purchase the global surety and credit reinsurance operations of AmTrust and the other concerned the sale of Pembroke syndicate and Ironshore Europe business to streamline its global specialty business. The Pembroke transaction is expected to close in the third quarter.

Other first quarter results:

• Pre-tax operating income before partnerships, limited liability companies and other equity method income was $662 million, an increase of $269 million or 68.4% over the same period in 2018.
• Net realized gains were $250 million, an increase of $95 million or 61.3% over the same period in 2018.
• Ironshore Inc. acquisition and integration costs were $6 million, a decrease of $8 million or 57.1% from the same period in 2018.
• Restructuring costs were $2 million, a decrease of $1 million or 33.3% from the same period in 2018.

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Topics Profit Loss Excess Surplus Underwriting