Reno, NV – Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EIG) recently reported net income of $24.5 million, or $0.75 per diluted share, for the quarter ended September 30, 2015 compared to $15.2 million, or $0.47 per diluted share, in the prior year quarter. Net income before the impact of the Loss Portfolio Transfer (“LPT”) was $21.8 million, or $0.67 per diluted share, in the current quarter compared to $10.4 million, or $0.32 per diluted share, in the prior year quarter. Operating income in the current quarter was $20.6 million, or $0.63 per diluted share, compared to $9.3 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, in the prior year quarter.
President and Chief Executive Officer Douglas Dirks commented on the results: “We again delivered strong results in the third quarter, reflecting the continued success of the pricing and underwriting initiatives we implemented last year. We expanded underwriting margin in the quarter while prudently managing our expenses, increasing invested assets and investing in technology. Our underwriting profit before the LPT grew to $7.9 million in the quarter and our combined ratio was 95.6%, an improvement of 8.8 percentage points compared to the third quarter of last year.”
Dirks continued: “Our strategy remains focused on growth in profitable customer classes both in and outside of California. In line with our strategic initiatives, we continued to see reductions in our higher loss ratio business, particularly in southern California. Consequently, our overall in-force premium, policies and payroll exposure flattened in the quarter. In states outside of California, our in-force premium grew 4%, and our policies and payroll exposure grew 6% year-over-year. As rate levels moderated, our provision rate for current accident year losses declined just two basis points relative to the second quarter of this year. Our loss trends remained stable relative to the second quarter.”
Dirks concluded: “We remain focused on profitability and delivering value to all of our stakeholders. Our annualized quarterly operating return on equity was 9.9% and operating income more than doubled to 63 cents per diluted share compared to the third quarter of last year. Our adjusted book value per share (excluding unrealized gains) of $26.23, which we believe is a conservative measure of value, grew 5% since the end of last year. We are pleased with our very strong financial and operating results in the quarter, which were in line with our expectations.”
Fourth Quarter Dividend
The Board of Directors declared a fourth quarter 2015 dividend of six cents per share. The dividend is payable on November 24, 2015 to stockholders of record as of November 10, 2015.
The complete earnings release is available here: Employers Third Quarter 2015 Earnings