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Safety Announces First Quarter 2011 Results and Declares Second Quarter 2011 Dividend

^{Published on 2011-05-04 19:41:35 - Market Wire}
 

BOSTON--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Safety Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:SAFT) today reported first quarter 2011 results. Net loss for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 was $4.0 million, or $0.26 per diluted share, compared to net income of $12.8 million, or $0.85 per diluted share, for the comparable 2010 period. Safetya™s book value per share decreased to $42.33 at March 31, 2011 from $43.37 at December 31, 2010. Safety paid $0.50 per share in dividends to investors during the quarter ended March 31, 2011 compared to $0.40 per share during the comparable 2010 period. Safety paid $1.80 per share in dividends to investors during the year ended December 31, 2010.

The quarter ended March 31, 2011 was marked by unusually severe winter weather in New England and the frequency and closeness of events combined to produce elevated catastrophe and non-catastrophe claims activity throughout our personal and commercial property lines. For the quarter ended March 31, 2011, loss and loss adjustment expenses incurred increased by $32.9 million, or 37.2%, to $121.6 million from $88.7 million for the comparable 2010 period. Loss, expense, and combined ratios calculated under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 were 84.1%, 29.5%, and 113.6%, respectively, compared to 66.6%, 31.4%, and 98.0%, respectively, for the comparable 2010 period. Total prior year favorable development included in the pre-tax results for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 was $9.7 million compared to $12.5 million for the comparable 2010 period.

Direct written premiums for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 increased by $10.0 million, or 6.5%, to $164.1 million from $154.1 million for the comparable 2010 period. The 2011 increase occurred primarily in our personal automobile and homeowners business lines, both of which experienced an increase of 2.0% in average written premium per exposure and increases of 2.3% and 15.6%, respectively, in written exposures.

Net written premiums for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 increased by $10.4 million, or 7.1%, to $157.5 million from $147.1 million for the comparable 2010 period. Net earned premiums for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 increased by $11.4 million, or 8.6%, to $144.6 million from $133.2 million for the comparable 2010 period. Net written and net earned premiums increased primarily due to the factors that increased direct written premiums.

Net investment income for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 decreased by $0.6 million, or 5.8%, to $10.2 million from $10.8 million for the comparable 2010 period. The 2011 decrease primarily resulted from lower short-term interest rates and ongoing maintenance of short duration to protect the portfolio from rising interest rates. Net effective annualized yield on the investment portfolio decreased to 3.7% for the quarter ended March 31, 2011 from 4.1% for the comparable 2010 period. Our duration was 3.3 years at March 31, 2011 and December 31, 2010.

Today the Board of Directors approved and declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.50 per share on the issued and outstanding common stock, payable on June 15, 2011 to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 1, 2011.

About Safety: Safety Insurance Group, Inc. is the parent of Safety Insurance Company, Safety Indemnity Insurance Company, and Safety Property and Casualty Insurance Company which are Boston, MA, based writers of property and casualty insurance. Safety is a leading writer of personal automobile insurance in Massachusetts.

Additional Information: Press releases, announcements, U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission (aSECa) Filings and investor information are available under aAbout Safety,a aInvestor Informationa on our Company website located at [ www.SafetyInsurance.com ]. Safety filed its December 31, 2010 Form 10-K with the SEC on March 14, 2011 and urges shareholders to refer to this document for more complete information concerning Safetya™s financial results.

Cautionary Statement under "Safe Harbor" Provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:

This press release contains, and Safety may from time to time make, written or oral "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. They often include words such as abelieve,a aexpect,a aanticipate,a aintend,a aplan,a aestimate,a aaim,a aprojects,a or words of similar meaning and expressions that indicate future events and trends, or future or conditional verbs such as awill,a awould,a ashould,a acould,a or amaya. All statements that address expectations or projections about the future, including statements about the Companya™s strategy for growth, product development, market position, expenditures and financial results, are forward looking statements.

Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. There are a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control, that could cause actual future conditions, events, results or trends to differ significantly and/or materially from historical results or those projected in the forward-looking statements. These factors include but are not limited to the competitive nature of our industry and the possible adverse effects of such competition.Although a number of national insurers that are much larger than we are do not currently compete in a material way in the Massachusetts private passenger automobile market, if one or more of these companies decided to aggressively enter the market it could have a material adverse effect on us.Other significant factors include conditions for business operations and restrictive regulations in Massachusetts, the possibility of losses due to claims resulting from severe weather, the possibility that the Commissioner of Insurance may approve future Rule changes that change the operation of the residual market, our possible need for and availability of additional financing, and our dependence on strategic relationships, among others, and other risks and factors identified from time to time in our reports filed with the SEC, such as those set forth under the caption aRisk Factorsa in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 filed with the SEC on March 14, 2011.

We are not under any obligation (and expressly disclaim any such obligation) to update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.You should carefully consider the possibility that actual results may differ materially from our forward-looking statements.