BestWeek: U.S. P/C Industry Registers First-Half Underwriting Profit.OLDWICK, N.J. -- The U.S. property/casualty industry recorded an underwriting profit Underwriting profit is a term used in the insurance industry. It consists of the earned premium remaining after losses have been paid and administrative expenses have been deducted. It does not include any investment income earned on held premiums. of $15.1 billion during the first six months of 2006, a 31.8% increase from the first six months of 2005, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. an exclusive A.M. Best special report excerpt ex·cerpt n. A passage or segment taken from a longer work, such as a literary or musical composition, a document, or a film. tr.v. ex·cerpt·ed, ex·cerpt·ing, ex·cerpts 1. in the Oct. 9 BestWeek. Despite continued price softening, the improvement in the industry's results was attributable largely to a moderately light period of catastrophe losses, loss frequency trends and favorable loss-reserve development through the first six months of the year, according to the report. For the first half of 2006, the industry's combined ratio, a key measure of underwriting profitability, improved to 92.0 from 93.8 reported in the first half of 2005. The industry's combined ratio for the second quarter of 2006 was 92.6, a modest deterioration of 1.2 points from 91.4 reported in the first quarter. With solid underwriting results and investment income increasing at a modest pace, pretax pre·tax adj. Existing before tax deductions: pretax income. pretax adj [profit] → vor (Abzug der) Steuern operating income Operating Income The profit realized from a business' own operations. Notes: This would not include income from things such as investments in other firms. Also referred to as operating profit or recurring profit. increased an impressive $5.4 billion, or 14.3%, to $43.2 billion in the first half of 2006 from $37.8 billion in the same period of 2005. Net income after taxes increased $2.0 billion, or 6.4%, to $33.1 billion. Also in this week's BestWeek, a look at how some of the Gulf states' personal-lines insurers are struggling for what they consider adequate homeowners insurance rates in that region. Also featured is Best's Insurance Composite Index Composite Index A grouping of equities, indexes or other factors combined in a standardized way, providing a useful statistical measure of overall market or sector performance over time. Also known simply as a "composite". , which finished the week of Oct. 5, 2006, at 1,182.65, up 10.23% from a year ago. The composite index reflects the performance of 131 insurance stocks. The week's top performers were Specialty Underwriters' Alliance Inc.; Odyssey Re Holdings Corp.; Health Net Inc.; Mercury General Corp.; and Aetna Inc. The week's bottom performers were Mercer Insurance Group Inc.; Gainsco Inc.; Penn Treaty American Corp.; Kentucky Investors Inc.; and Atlantic American Corp. BestWeek is published by A.M. Best Co. for insurance professionals. To subscribe to Verb 1. subscribe to - receive or obtain regularly; "We take the Times every day" subscribe, take buy, purchase - obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction; "The family purchased a new car"; "The conglomerate acquired a new company"; BestWeek, please call A.M. Best's customer service department at (908) 439-2200, ext. 5742, or e-mail your request to customer_service@ambest.com. A.M. Best Co., established in 1899, is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit A.M. Best's Web site at www.ambest.com. |
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