W. R. Berkley Up 61% In Quarter
NU Online News Service, April 29, 3:31 p.m. EDT?W. R. Berkley Corp., based in Greenwich, Conn., reported $115 million in net profit for its first quarter, a 61 percent rise from $72 million reported during the corresponding period in 2003.[@@]
Commenting on the results, the company's Chief Executive Officer William Berkley predicted that the company "will continue to produce record results for the next two years."
W. R. Berkley showed improvements in a number of key areas. The net premiums written rose to $1.087 billion, a 22 percent rise from the comparable quarter in 2003, while the GAAP combined ratio improved by 1.6 percentage points to 90.2, from 91.8 reported during the year-ago period.
The company also reported its paid loss ratio falling to 35.6 from 39.8 one year earlier. Additionally, investment income for the quarter rose 32 percent to $68 million.
Mr. Berkley, commenting on the results, said that "using almost any performance metric, we are meeting or exceeding our objectives in terms of return on equity, profitability and growth."
He observed that W. R. Berkley's direct premiums grew by 21 percent year-over-year, with more than half a result of higher prices. Mr. Berkley added that the overall growth in gross premiums was somewhat less, however, because of the planned reduction of premiums written under qualifying quota share reinsurance agreements.
Commenting on investment results, which showed a 32 percent increase, Mr. Berkley said that the investment side is "focused on managing the balance between capital exposed to interest rate volatility and adequate investment returns."
"We have managed these risks by maintaining our cash and short-term securities at a high level and reducing the duration of our portfolio to less than four years," he said.
"We believe the company will continue to produce record results for the next two years," Mr. Berkley said.
W. R. Berkley's subsidiaries?including Acadia Insurance, Continental Western Insurance, Union Standard Insurance and Firemen's Insurance?offer personal and commercial lines such as automobile, homeowners and small business insurance.
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