CNA Quarterly Profit Up 75%
By Michael Ha
NU Online News Service, Feb. 10, 2:42 p.m. EST?CNA Financial Corporation said its quarterly net income rose $131 million, or 75 percent, boosted primarily by continued improved underwriting results for property-casualty operations and improved net realized investment results.[@@]
For the 2004 fourth quarter, the Chicago-based insurer posted $305 million as compared to $174 million for the same period in 2003. For the quarter, the p-c combined ratio was 96.9, as compared with 98.6 in the prior-year period.
The fourth-quarter net realized investment gains were $104 million, in contrast to a loss of $20 million reported during the year-ago period.
The insurer also reported far better results for full-year 2004. The company said its 2004 net profit came in at $441 million, a big swing from 2003 when it reported a loss of $1.43 billion.
In 2003, the company posted poor full-year results because unfavorable net prior-year development of $1.85 billion after-tax, as well as an increase in bad-debt reserves for insurance and reinsurance receivables of $396 million after taxes.
CNA said its p-c operations net written premiums for the fourth quarter were $1.68 billion, down slightly from the year-ago quarter figure of $1.72 billion. For full-year 2004, p-c operations net written premiums came in at $6.97 billion, up from $ 6.6 billion during 2003.
CNA Financial, majority owned by Loews Corp., is the country's seventh largest commercial insurance writer and the 14th largest p-c company. CNA's insurance products include standard commercial lines, specialty lines, surety, marine and other p-c coverages. CNA's services include risk management, information services, underwriting, risk control and claims administration.
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