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Liberty Mutual's 2011 net income down 78%

Posted On: Mar. 6, 2012 12:00 AM CST

BOSTON—Liberty Mutual Holding Co. Inc.’s net income for 2011 dropped to $365 million, a 78.2% decrease from a year earlier, the Boston-based mutual insurer reported Tuesday.

Total revenues for the year reached $34.67 billion, a 4.5% increase from a year earlier. Net written premium grew 6.8% to $31.18 billion. But the combined ratio, including the impact of catastrophes and net incurred losses attributable to catastrophes, deteriorated 6.2 points to 107.4%.

For the fourth quarter of 2011, net income fell 50.7% to $284 million. Total revenues for the period increased 4.8% to $8.96 billion. Net written premium increased 10.6% over that of the same period a year earlier to $7.72 billion. The combined ratio deteriorated 5 points to 104.2%.

“Operating results in the fourth quarter were adversely affected by the Thailand floods, bringing our pretax catastrophe losses for the year to a historically high level of $2.7 billion,” said David H. Long, Liberty Mutual’s president and CEO, in a statement announcing the results.

He added that several other developments, including the opening of a fourth branch in China and “a favorable trajectory of pricing trends across multiple lines of business,” taken together, “position us well for a more prosperous 2012.”