The Hanover Insurance Group Inc. in Worcester, Massachusetts, reported $89.9 million net income for the 2014 fourth quarter, a 28 percent rise from $70.1 million income during the 2013 fourth quarter.
The net income also increased on a full-year basis. The full-year 2014 net income came in at $282.0 million, a 12 percent increase from $251.0 million reported during 2013.
Net premiums written for the fourth quarter were $1.117 billion, up 6 percent from one year ago. The full-year 2014 net premiums written were $4.810 billion, up more than 5 percent from $4.553 billion in 2013.
The combined ratio for the latest quarter was 94.3 percent (92.5 percent when excluding catastrophes), improving from 96.5 percent (94.1 percent when excluding catastrophes). The full-year 2014 combined ratio was 96.9 percent (92.2 percent when excluding catastrophes), compared to 96.7 percent (93.6 percent when excluding catastrophes).
Net investment income for the fourth quarter was $68.8 million, a 1 percent increase from a year ago. The full-year 2014 net investment income came in at $270.3 million, up about 0.5 percent.
“2014 was a strong year for our company. We delivered on our operating and financial goals and further strengthened our organization for continued success,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Frederick H. Eppinger.
“All of our business segments performed well during the year and are poised to deliver strong results moving forward,” said Eppinger. “In Commercial Lines, we reported an ex-catastrophe combined ratio improvement of 2 points and a growth rate of 7 percent for the year. With nearly 7 percent pricing increases in the fourth quarter and a substantially repositioned portfolio, we are on track to continue to grow premiums and underwriting margins going forward.”
“Our Personal Lines business turned to growth in the second half of the year, concluding with 3 percent premium increases in the fourth quarter, as we have nearly completed our exposure management and portfolio rebalancing initiative,” said Eppinger. “With the successful rollout of our Platinum offering and strong rate increases of 5 percent in the fourth quarter, we fully expect to build on our growth momentum in 2015, while continuing to improve underwriting margins in this business.”
The Chaucer segment also performed well once again, delivering another year of very strong earnings and solid growth, said Eppinger.
Topics Profit Loss
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