Storm Losses Lower Liberty Mutual Profit in Q1

Liberty Mutual Holding Company Inc. reported net income of $351 million for the three months ended March 31, 2017, a $42 million or 10.7 percent decline from the same period in 2016.

Net written premiums in the quarter increased 5.3 percent to $9.2 billion but the combined ratio deteriorated 5.2 points to 101.5.

The drop in net income was due to higher wind and hail storm losses, which outweighed significant improvement in investments, according to David H. Long, Liberty Mutual Insurance chairman and CEO.

Net operating income for the three months ended March 31, 2017 was $144 million, a decrease of $271 million or 65.3 percent from the same period in 2016.

Net realized gains for the first quarter were $169 million versus $39 million in losses in the first quarter of 2016.

On May 1, 2017, the company acquired Ironshore for approximately $2.9 billion. Costs related to this acquisition of $10 million for the quarter are not included in the combined ratio. Liberty Mutual is combining its existing Liberty International Underwriters U.S. business and Ironshore’s U.S. specialty lines business under the Ironshore brand, which the insurers said will create the sixth largest writer of excess and surplus lines in the U.S. based on 2016 direct written premium.

On April 17, 2017, the company completed the acquisition of TRU Services, a medical stop loss product specialist serving mid and large-size medical plan sponsors.