NU Online News Service, July 23, 3:25 p.m. EDT
The Chubb Corporation reported 2010 second-quarter net income of $518 million, a 6 percent decline from 2009 second-quarter net income of $551 million.
But the Warren, N.J.-based insurer said net income for the first six months of 2010 increased 10 percent to $982 million compared to $892 million a year ago.
Chubb said catastrophes in the 2010 second quarter impacted results by $193 million pretax, compared with a $43 million impact in the 2009 second quarter. Chubb said storms throughout the U.S. made up the catastrophes for the 2010 second quarter, with a May hailstorm in Oklahoma being the most significant.
Net written premiums in the quarter increased 1 percent to $2.9 billion compared to the same period a year ago.
The 2010 second-quarter combined ratio was 90.4, up from 85.9 in 2009. Excluding catastrophes, the combined ratio improved over last year's second quarter to 83.5 from 84.4.
Chubb said it had 2010 second-quarter net realized investment gains of $90 million pretax, up from $27 million in 2009.
In a statement, John D. Finnegan, Chubb chairman, president and chief executive officer, said: "Because of the unusually high level of catastrophe losses in the first six months of 2010 we have increased our catastrophe assumption for our full-year guidance from three points to seven points. Nevertheless, in light of the better than expected underlying performance of our businesses in the first half of the year and our outlook for the second half, we are affirming the guidance we provided last January for full-year 2010 operating income per share of $5.15 to $5.55."
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