Midwest Storms Prove Costly to Des Moines-based EMC

Des Moines, Iowa-based EMC Insurance Group reported that losses from Midwest storms cost the company more than $23 million in the second quarter alone. By comparison, storm losses in the second quarter of 2007 totaled nearly $9.8 million.

Company officials blamed the storms for a second quarter 2008 operating loss of $1,181,000 compared with a gain of nearly $14 million in the same period in 2007.

For the first six months of 2008, the company’s operating income was $8.9 million compared to $27.7 million in the first six months of 2007.

EMC President and CEO Bruce G. Kelley said in a statement released by the company that storm “losses added 24.3 percentage points to the second quarter combined ratio, compared to 9.8 points in the second quarter of 2007.”

The company experienced a combined ratio of 116 percent in Q2 2008 compared with a combined ratio of 91.2 percent during the same period in 2007.

Source: EMC Insurance Group, www.emcins.com/