Fitch Affirms Infinity's IDR at 'BBB+'; Outlook Stable.CHICAGO -- Fitch has affirmed af·firm v. af·firmed, af·firm·ing, af·firms v.tr. 1. To declare positively or firmly; maintain to be true. 2. To support or uphold the validity of; confirm. v.intr. Infinity Property & Casualty Corporation (Infinity) (Nasdaq:IPCC See IMS Forum. ) as follows: --Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR IDR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Indonesian Rupiah. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. ) at 'BBB+'; --$200 million senior note due 2014 'BBB'; --Insurer financial strength (IFS) at 'A'. For a complete list of subsidiary ratings, see below. The Rating Outlook is Stable. The ratings are based on Infinity's solid underwriting Underwriting 1. The process by which investment bankers raise investment capital from investors on behalf of corporations and governments that are issuing securities (both equity and debt). 2. The process of issuing insurance policies. results, quality balance sheet, strong capitalization capitalization n. 1) the act of counting anticipated earnings and expenses as capital assets (property, equipment, fixtures) for accounting purposes. 2) the amount of anticipated net earnings which hypothetically can be used for conversion into capital assets. and adequate loss reserving levels. Offsetting these positives are Infinity's concentration in the California auto market, which represents approximately 50% of gross written premiums, increased competitive landscape, and exposure to political and operating uncertainty. Infinity is the fourth largest non-standard auto insurance company in the country. As of June 30, 2007, Infinity had total GAAP GAAP See: Generally Accepted Accounting Principles GAAP See generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). capital of $881 million. The corporation's debt-to-total capital ratio was 23%, below Fitch's 30% tolerance for the current rating category. Fitch notes that earnings based interest coverage was 11.3 times for the period, and anticipates that the company will continue to maintain adequate interest coverage levels to support debt servicing requirements going forward. Infinity reported an underwriting combined ratio, on a GAAP basis, of 94% for first half of 2007, compared with 89.6% first half 2006. The company reported net earned premium Earned premium is the portion of an insurance written premium which is considered "earned" by the insurer, based on the part of the policy period that the insurance has been in effect, and during which the insurer has been exposed to loss. revenues of $521 million during the first half of 2007 compared to $470 million for first half 2006. Infinity's personal lines insurance operations utilize an extensive independent agency sales force of approximately 14,000 agents. Infinity reported GAAP consolidated assets of $2.1 billion and total shareholder equity of $682.0 million as of June 30, 2007. Fitch has also affirmed the following Insurer Financial Ratings (IFS) ratings at 'A' with a Stable Outlook: --Infinity Insurance Company --Infinity National Insurance Co --Infinity Select Insurance Co. --Atlanta Casualty Company --American Premier Insurance Co. --Atlanta Reserve Insurance Co. --Atlanta Specialty Insurance Co. --Leader Insurance Company --Leader Preferred Insurance Co. --Leader Specialty Insurance Co. --TICO Insurance Company --Windsor Insurance Company --American Deposit Insurance Co. --Coventry Insurance Company --Regal Insurance Company --Great Texas County Mutual Ins. Co. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used. In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide. of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. |
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