Liberty Mutual Insurance has reported net income of $498m for Q1 2022, down from $856m in the same period in 2021.
David H. Long, chairman and CEO of the firm, acknowledged the fall directly in a statement, blaming market uncertainties brought by macroeconomic and geopolitical headwinds. He said that the firm was continuing to make progress on its strategic priorities.
He added: “Earnings in the first quarter reflect more moderate returns in our limited partnership portfolio compared to the exceptional returns we experienced last year and $144m of net realized losses resulting from recent market volatility. Pre-tax catastrophe losses in the quarter were $656m, down from $1.0bn in the prior year quarter which partially offset the weaker investment results.”
Also revealed in this round of financial results for Liberty Mutual was that net written premiums were up 11.2% when Q1 2022 and Q1 2021 were compared, with the largest increase being in global retail markets (12.3%).
Revenues for the firm saw a slight increase of 0.5% between the same periods, rising from $11,815m to $11,874m.
Long said that the company’s recent acquisition of State Auto Group would help strengthen its market position in US personal and small commercial lines as it made the company into the second-larger carrer in the independent agent channel.
These latest results follow the firm reporting a 10.1% increase in its total revenues between FY 2020 and FY 2021. Back then, it said that its revenues in 2021 were $48,200m, up from $43,796m the year before. However, revenues in Q4 2021 were only 3.6% higher than they had been in Q4 2020.
