NU Online News Service, Sept. 16, 11:08 a.m. EDT

Catastrophe losses in August ate into Progressive's earnings for the month as net income dropped 66 percent, the company says.

The Mayfield Village, Ohio-based auto insurer says net income when compared with the same month a year ago dropped $44 million, to $22.5 million.

The company says it was hit with about $37 million in catastrophe losses for the month of August, compared to $2.2 million during the same 31 days last year.

The catastrophe losses equaled 3.2 loss ratio points in August. The combined ratio rose 4.5 points to 97.6.

About 64 percent of the catastrophe losses were attributed to Hurricane Irene and the states with the largest catastrophe losses for the month were New York, Iowa, New Jersey, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Nebraska, Progressive says.

On a year to date basis, net income is down 1 percent, or $5.5 million, to $682 million over the same period last year. Total revenues are up 4 percent, or $441 million, to $10.4 billion.

The company saw business in both its direct writer and independent agency auto insurance business increase during the month over the same period last year.

Overall, personal lines policies-in-force increased 5 percent, or 573,000 policies, to nearly 12.3 million. Commercial auto policies dropped slightly, 1 percent, to 514,000.

Agency-written policies-in-force numbers increased 3 percent to more than 4.6 million. Direct written policies increased 7 percent to 3.8 million.

Comparing August 2011 to August 2010, net premiums written increased 5 percent.

Earnings per share were off 6 cents to 4 cents a share. Net premiums written in August increased 5 percent, or $60 million, to $1.2 billion.

Last month Progressive said its July net income dropped 55 percent, compared to the same month last year, on $23 million in catastrophe losses.

This story was updated at 12:01 p.m. EDT with addition of year to date figures.

Special Reports /

Catastrophe Losses Drop Progressive&rsquo;s August Profit 66%

Related Stories

Recommended For You

Catastrophe Losses Drop Progressive’s August Profit 66%