Alberta P&C insurers see net income drop in first nine months of 2011

A group of six Alberta incorporated property and casualty insurers reported a consolidated net income of $23.4 million for the first nine months of 2011, marking a drop from the $43.7 million reported during the same period of 2010.
The six insurers include:
•Alberta Motor Insurance Company;
•Canadian Farm Insurance Company;
•Fortress Insurance Company;
•Millenium Insurance Company;
•Peace Hills Insurance Company; and
•Trans Global Insurance Company.
Consolidated underwriting income fell from $31.4 million for the first three quarters of 2010 to $11.7 million for the first three quarters of 2011. The group of insurers also saw a drop in their investment income, from $28.9 million to $18.4 million during the time frame.
Of the insurers, Alberta Motor Insurance Company and Peace Hills saw the largest drop in net income. Alberta Motor saw its net income for the first three quarters shrink from $20.1 million in 2010 to $4.3 million in 2011. Peace Hills saw its profit erode from $7.5 million to $1.5 million. None of the insurers reported net losses for the first three quarters.
Alberta Motor saw its underwriting income drop from $12.8 million in the first three quarters of 2010 to $1.7 million in the same period of 2011. Similarly, its investment income decreased to $2.5 million in the first three quarters of 2010 from $14.8 million in 2010.
Peace Hills’s $5.6-million underwriting income for the first nine months of 2010 turned to an underwriting loss of $5.5 million in the same period of 2011. It grew its investment income from $5.5 million to $7.6 million between the first nine months of 2010 and the same period of 2011.
The Canadian Farm Insurance Company reported the most improvement. It saw its net loss of $776,000 in the first nine months of 2010 grow to a net income of $362,000 in 2011. It improved its underwriting result from a loss of $928,000 in 2010 Q3 to an underwriting income of $339,000 during the same period. Its investment income fell from $152,000 to $23,000.