Travelers’ Hurricane Harvey Pretax Losses Could Reach $750M

September 13, 2017

The Travelers Companies said it will deal with as much as $750 million in pretax catastrophe losses stemming from Hurricane Harvey.

It’s still early yet, so Travelers disclosed an estimate with a wide range. Pretax losses from the storm, which began wreaking havoc on Aug. 25 in coastal Texas, will range between $375 million and $750 million, and the insurer said the number includes estimated recoveries from reinsurance.

After-tax losses will hit between $245 million and $490 million, Travelers said.

Travelers hasn’t yet released early catastrophe losses for Hurricane Irma yet, which slammed into Florida on Sept. 10 after leaving a path of destruction through the Caribbean.

In the short-term, the insurer said it is pursuing a capital management strategy that it uses “during periods of significant catastrophe activity.” That means it has temporarily suspended common share repurchases while it assesses losses from both hurricanes. Before this action, it had repurchased about 2.6 million shares during the current quarter for about $328 million.

Travelers disclosed in July that it had produce $595 million in 2017 second quarter net income, down 10 percent from the same period the year before due largely to weather-related losses and higher personal body injury liability. Its combined ratio came in at 96.7, up from 93.1 I the 2016 second quarter.

Travelers is scheduled to discuss its 2017 third quarter results on October 19, during a 9 a.m. investor conference call.

Source: Travelers