"Although we do not directly use expenses as a factor in the Ward's 50 evaluation, a common attribute of the top performing segment is the ability to operate at lower expense ratios," said Jeff Rieder, president of Ward Group, in a release. "Our research consistently finds the top companies achieve a proper balance between managing expenses and making prudent investments in systems or processes to meet customer needs and corporate goals."

A two-step process is used to determine the top performers. Companies being considered must first pass minimum thresholds, which include the following:

• Surplus and premiums of at least $50 million for each of the five years analyzed.
• Net income in at least four of the last five years.
• Risk-based capital ratio of at least 100 percent for each of the five years analyzed.
• Compound annual growth in premiums between -10 percent and +40 percent.

Companies that pass this initial screening are then measured and scored on the following elements and the top 50 are selected:

• Five-year average return on average equity.
• Five-year average return on average assets.
• Five-year average return on total revenue.
• Five-year growth in revenue.
• Five-year improvement in surplus-to-written-premium.
• Five-year average combined ratio.

To see Ward's complete list of top 50 P&C insurers, click to the next page.

WARD GROUP'S TOP 50 P&C INSURERS FOR 2010

Acuity
Alleghany Group
Allstate Insurance Company
American Modern Insurance Group
Amerisafe

Amica Mutual Insurance Group
Andover Companies
Assurant Group
Auto-Owners Insurance Group*
Balboa Insurance Company

Bear River Mutual Insurance Company
Brethren Mutual Insurance Company
Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company
Capital Insurance Group
Chubb Group

Cincinnati Insurance Group*
CSE Insurance Group
The Commerce Group, Inc.
The Doctors Company
Donegal Insurance Group

Erie Insurance Group
Federated Mutual Group
Fireman's Fund Insurance Group
First Insurance Company of Hawaii, LTD
FM Global

Franklin Mutual Insurance Group
GEICO*
Goodville Mutual Casualty Company
Great American Insurance Companies
HCC Insurance Holdings Group

Island Insurance Companies Group
Kentucky Employers' Mutual Insurance
Louisiana Workers' Compensation Corporation
Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insur. Co.
North Star Mutual Insurance Company

Ohio Mutual Insurance Group
Old Republic Insurance Group
Philadelphia Insurance Companies
ProAssurance
Progressive Casualty Insurance Company

ProMutual Group
RLI Insurance Group*
Rural Mutual Insurance Company
Safety Insurance Group
Travelers Insurance Group

USAA Group*
Vermont Mutual Insurance Company
Virginia Farm Bureau
W.R. Berkley Corporation Group
Western National Insurance Group

Source: Ward Group, www.wardinc.com

Note: The companies listed above rank as the top performing property-casualty companies based on the Ward Group annual analysis of the insurance industry. They each have passed all safety and consistency screens and have achieved superior performance over the five years analyzed (2005-2009). Companies are listed alphabetically. An important objective is to benchmark their performance as a group with the rest of the property-casualty insurance industry. The Ward's 50 list and comparisons based on benchmarks set by Ward's 50 companies are available in Ward's Results^(R), an insurance industry financial reference series.

^{* 20-year recipient, 1991-2010.}