RLI posts 1st-qtr profit, reversing year-ago loss due to market crash; operating results down

RLI posts 1Q profit, but operating results decline

PEORIA, Ill. — Specialty insurer RLI Corp. on Monday posted a first-quarter profit, reversing a loss a year earlier, when it recorded investment losses. But operating results declined as the company wrote fewer policies.

For the three months that ended March 31, RLI reported profit of $24.2 million, or $1.13 per share, compared with a loss of $1.8 million, or 8 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Adjusted to remove the effects of investment gains and losses, the company said operating earnings fell 11 percent to $20 million, or 94 cents per share, from $22.5 million, or $1.03 per share a year ago.

Its revenue rose 27 percent to $139.3 million, from $109.9 million last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected RLI to earn 97 cents per share on revenue of $134 million.

The company said it wrote 4 percent fewer premiums, for $108.2 million, from $112.9 million a year earlier. Net premiums earned slid 8 percent to $116.3 million, from $125.7 million.

Net investment income fell 6 percent to $16.6 million, from $17.7 million last year. Net realized investment gains for the recent quarter were $6.5 million, compared with net realized investment losses of $33.5 million last year.

The company posted a combined ratio of 89.1, up from 87.9 last year. Combined ratio is the sum of an insurance company’s loss ratio and expense ratio: a ratio above 100 means that for every premium dollar taken in, more than a dollar went for losses, expenses and commissions. A figure below 100 indicates an underwriting profit.

RLI shares closed Monday trading up 63 cents at $59.49. The stock did not trade in the aftermarket session after the results were released.