Insurer The Hartford has reported strong Q1 2024 results with net income of $748 million, up 41% on the $530 million seen a year earlier, as P&C written premiums increased 9% in the quarter on the back of 8% growth in commercial lines and 13% growth in personal lines.
Supporting the rise in net income, The Hartford has reported core earnings of $709 million in Q1 2024 compared with $536 million in Q1 2023.
The insurer attributes the strong net income to a higher P&C underwriting gain, driven by strong premium growth, higher net investment income, a change to net realized gains in 2024 from net realized losses in 2023, and an improvement in the Group Benefits loss ratio.
In its commercial lines business, net income rose 36% to $573 million and core earnings increased by 25% to $546 million.
Written premiums increased b 8% year-on-year to $3.4 billion, as the underwriting gain increased by a significant 49% to $301 million, with a combined ratio of 90.1% compared with 92.7% in Q1 2023.
Q1 2024 catastrophe losses hit $109 million, primarily from winter storms, mainly in the Northeast, Pacific and South regions, as well as tornado, wind and hail events in the Midwest, South and mid-Atlantic regions. This represents a decline from the $138 million of cat losses witnessed in Q1 2023.
In its personal lines business, The Hartford has announced net income of $34 million, so a turnaround from the $1 million loss seen last year. Core earnings increased to $33 million, as written premiums rose 13% year-on-year to $844 million.
However, the personal lines segment has fallen to a Q1’24 underwriting loss of $13 million, which is narrower than the loss of $45 million seen in Q1’23. The combined ratio strengthened from 106.1% to 101.6%.
Within personal lines, cat losses amounted to $52 million in Q1 2024, driven by tornado, wind and hail events, mainly in the Midwest and South regions, as well as winter storms in the Pacific and South regions. This compares to cat losses of $47 million a year earlier.
In its Group Benefits business, net income rose 17% year-on-year to $108 million. In Hartford Funds, net income strengthened by 10% to $45 million.
The Hartford also generated Q1 2024 consolidated net investment income of $593 million compared with $515 million in first quarter 2023, primarily due to the impact of reinvesting at higher rates, a higher level of invested assets, and a higher yield on variable-rate securities, partially offset by lower income from LPs.
Christopher Swift, Chief Executive Officer & Chairman, The Hartford, commented, “The Hartford’s first quarter 2024 financial results were excellent with a trailing 12-month core earnings ROE of 16.6 percent. Commercial Lines continues to generate strong top-line growth at highly profitable margins. Personal Lines results demonstrate progress towards restoring target profitability in auto and Group Benefits margins remained solid.”
Beth Costello, Chief Financial Officer, The Hartford, said, “Commercial Lines had an exceptional quarter with an underlying combined ratio of 88.4. Pricing, excluding workers’ compensation, accelerated to 9 percent in the quarter and remains above loss cost trends. Personal Lines achieved written price increases in auto of nearly 26 percent. Group Benefits continues to deliver solid results with a core earnings margin of 6.1 percent. We are actively managing our capital and returned $491 million through repurchases and dividends.”
Swift continued, “We are off to a strong start in 2024. First quarter results reflect the consistency of our performance and stability of our margins, which give me great confidence in our ability to grow our franchise and deliver enhanced value for shareholders with an industry-leading ROE.”
