Isabel's Effects Hit Insurers' Bottom Line

By Gary Mogel

NU Online News Service, Oct. 1, 1:49 p.m. EDT?Insurers earnings are beginning to reflect the hit they took from Hurricane Isabel, according to third-quarter financial estimates released by the companies.

Ohio Casualty Corp., based in Fairfield, Ohio, noted in a press release that it suffered pre-tax financial statement catastrophe losses of $16 million in the third quarter, $9 million of which is attributable to Isabel. The insurer has had about 2,000 claims from the hurricane so far.

Donegal Insurance Group, based in Marietta, Pa., reported a hurricane-related $650,000 reduction in net income in its third-quarter earnings announcement. "The company's underwriting efforts to limit catastrophe exposures and our reinsurance programs are responding as designed and will limit the net financial impact to the company," noted CEO Donald H. Nikolaus in a statement.

The Midland Company, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, expects pre-tax financial losses of $10-to-$15 million related to the storm, according to a statement issued by the company.

"Our second quarter was marked by catastrophe losses that were nearly twice the normalized average and our third quarter is now being negatively impacted by Hurricane Isabel," said president and CEO John W. Hayden in the statement.

Unitrin Inc., based in Chicago, noted in its third-quarter earnings report that it estimates $6 million in after-tax financial statement losses from Isabel.

Safeco Corporation, based in Seattle, Wash., estimated $10 million in Isabel-related after-tax financial losses as part of an announcement of the company's restructuring.

Cincinnati Financial Corp. is expecting a $15 million loss in third-quarter earnings as a result of the hurricane, according to its quarterly earnings report. The company is anticipating about 1,700 claims related to the storm.

Jay Cohen, an insurance analyst with Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York, said that there was "nothing very dramatic" in the earnings reports so far.

"Isabel was not a particularly huge event for CAT-related losses," Mr. Cohen noted. "It will be well within what is normal for the third quarter."

Mr. Cohen indicated that $10 million was not a big hit for Safeco, even given their current financial difficulties.

"Of course, what is small for one insurer may be big for another, depending on the company's size and policyholder's surplus," Mr. Cohen pointed out.

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Isabel's Effects Hit Insurers' Bottom Line

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