Liberty Mutual posts Q1 loss of $74 million

Tim Sweeney

Liberty Mutual Holding Co. Inc. Thursday reported a first-quarter net loss of $74 million, compared with net income of $498 million in the year-earlier period.

The loss was “primarily due to elevated catastrophe losses largely driven by severe weather storms across the Midwest,” Tim Sweeney, Liberty Mutual president and CEO, said in a statement.

“Excluding catastrophes, inflation continues to weigh on underlying personal lines results as parts, materials, and labor costs have remained high,” he said. “Given this elevated loss trend environment, we have continued pushing for rate and have achieved premium renewal rate increases of 12.8% in U.S. Personal Lines over the last 12 months.”

Liberty Mutual reported $11.89 billion in first-quarter total net written premium, up 2.8% from the same period in 2022. Its

total combined ratio was 103.2%, compared with 98.9% in last year’s first quarter.

The Boston-based insurer said its Global Risk Solutions business made progress toward previously stated combined ratio targets with a total combined ratio of 97.5%, a 2.2-point improvement from the first quarter of 2022.