Royal & Sun Posts Higher Quarterly Profit
NU Online News Service, May 23, 3:59 p.m. EDT?Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group reported a 9.4-percent boost in its first-quarter net income, to 175 million pounds (U.S. $286 million), compared to the period a year ago, thanks to its stronger underwriting results.
Royal & Sun, the United Kingdom's second-biggest property-casualty insurer, said its first-quarter combined ratio improved by more than five percentage points, to reach 99 percent, compared to the 2002 first quarter.
The insurer noted that its underwriting performance was helped by worldwide rate increases, as well as by the company's improved underwriting discipline and a low volume of weather-related claims in Europe.
Andy Haste, the group chief executive at Royal & Sun, said that while performances shown in these results are encouraging, "our challenge is to produce sustained performance improvements from our ongoing businesses over a number of quarters and across the insurance cycle."
The company also showed stronger first-quarter results for its U.S. operations, Royal & SunAlliance USA, with the combined ratio dropping to 100.8 percent from 102 percent during the same period one year ago. Royal & SunAlliance USA's total net written premiums for the 2003 first quarter was $860 million, up from $830 million one year ago.
"We increased net written premiums in business-related insurance by three percent for the quarter, building on an already strong 19 percent underlying increase during 2002," said Steve Mulready, chief executive officer at Royal & SunAlliance USA. "We also achieved solid price increases in both our standard and nonstandard auto books of business," he said.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.