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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
ST. PAUL, Minn.--The St. Paul Travelers Cos. Inc. reports that its net income soared 72.7% during the first quarter of 2004 to $587.2 million from $340 million during the same period last year.
The results reflect only those of Travelers Property Casualty Corp., which officially merged with The St. Paul Cos. Inc. on April 1. Results of the two insurers will be consolidated in future financial reports, noted St. Paul Travelers.
The gain in net income was supported by increases in net written premiums and investment income.
Net written premiums increased 9.6% during the first quarter to more than $3.47 billion compared to the year-earlier period. While commercial lines premiums accounted for 60.6% of the total, those premiums grew 4.4% from the previous year's first quarter. Personal lines premiums grew at an 18.8% clip.
Net investment income grew 26.5% to $352.4 million during the first quarter of 2003.
The insurer also improved its combined ratio to 91.9% from 99.9% for the year-earlier period. Its commercial lines operation's combined ratio was not as low, but it still improved to 96.8% from 103.8%.
"Generally, market conditions remain strong," said Chief Executive Officer Jay S. Fishman. "The combination of current rate levels and anticipated loss trends continue to generate significant margins in our businesses. While we are in the early days of the merger; the integration is going very well."