SAFECO POSTS LOSS

Safeco has reported lower profits for 2000, and an operating loss for the fourth quarter. For the full year 2000, SAFECO reported net income of $114.6 million, or $0.90 per diluted share, on revenues of $7.1 billion. Operating income, excluding realized gains from investments, was $24.2 million, or a profit of $0.19 per diluted share. This compares to operating income of $1.32 per diluted share in 1999. SAFECO Personal Insurance, including auto and homeowners insurance, reported a quarterly underwriting loss of $70.2 million, compared with an underwriting loss of $19.4 million during the same quarter a year earlier. The change is the result of weather-related homeowners losses, which were nearly three times higher in the fourth quarter than during the same period in 1999, and losses for SAFECO’s auto insurance lines, which increased by $5 million when compared with the fourth quarter of 1999.

SAFECO Business Insurance continued to show improvement as fourth-quarter underwriting losses declined to $26.1 million. That represents a 30 percent improvement over the $37.1 million underwriting loss reported during the same period in 1999. SAFECO Commercial Insurance reported an underwriting loss of $51.9 million, a slight improvement over the $59.1 million loss during the fourth quarter of 1999.

Topics Profit Loss