Ohio Casualty Estimates $9M Isabel Loss

Insurer Ohio Casualty Corp. announced that third quarter earnings will be impacted by net catastrophe losses estimated at $16 million before tax which were incurred during the period July 1 through Sept. 24.

About $9 million of the estimated catastrophe losses are related to damage caused by Hurricane Isabel, the Fairfield, Ohio-based company said in a statement.

The corporation projects that the number of claims from Hurricane Isabel will be around 2,000 and that projected losses will be roughly 60 percent for personal lines business. The impact of the estimated $16 million in catastrophe losses is expected to be approximately 4.5 points on the full third quarter 2003 combined ratio. Catastrophe losses of $3.7 million impacted the third quarter 2002 combined ratio by 1.0 points and the 1995-2001 third quarter historical average was 3.4 points.

At this time the corporation is maintaining its previous guidance of a statutory combined ratio for the year 2003 in the range of 103 percent to 105 percent.