For the nine months ended Sept. 30, after-tax operating income was $337.4 million, or $6.20 per diluted share, an increase of 66.9 percent over the $202.2 million, or $3.97 per diluted share, in 2002. Net income in the 2003 nine-month period was $304.2 million, or $5.59 per diluted share, which is an increase of 73.1 percent from the $175.7 million, or $3.45 per diluted share, reported in 2002.

Gross premiums written for the third quarter of 2003 were $1.24 billion, a 75.1 percent increase, compared to $708.0 million in 2002. For the nine months ended Sept. 30, gross premiums written were $3.31 billion, a 71.1 percent increase from $1.93 billion in the 2002 nine-month period.

During the third quarter, net premiums written were $1.18 billion, an increase of 79.2 percent from $660.6 million. For the nine-month period, net premiums written grew 71.1 percent to $3.12 billion from $1.83 billion in 2002.

The company's combined ratio in the third quarter was 95, compared to 96.7 in 2002, while the combined ratio for the nine-month period was 94.7, compared with 97.8 in 2002.

Net investment income for the third quarter was $100.3 million, compared to $86.4 million in the third quarter of 2002. For the nine-month period, net investment income was $295.7 million, an increase of 12.5 percent from $262.8 million in 2002.