Liberty Mutual’s 2017 Net Income Is Nearly $1B Lower Than the Year Before

February 28, 2018

Liberty Mutual eked out $17 million in net income for 2017, after making more than $1 billion the year before. Record catastrophes, adverse development in its commercial automobile business and a charge related to the Trump tax cuts were to blame for the $989 million drop.

“While the results in 2017 did not meet our expectations, we are encouraged by signs of market firming across each of our businesses,” Liberty Mutual Chairman and CEO David Long said in prepared remarks.

Long also noted that net written premium and income for the fourth quarter increased even with catastrophe loss and tax cut charge challenges. Better investment results helped, Long said.

Net income for the 2017 fourth quarter landed at $205 million, up $62 million from the same period a year ago. Net written premium for Q4 was close to $8.9 billion, up $716 million over the same period in 2016. Consolidated net income for the quarter and year were $205 million and $19 million, respectively, with non-controlling interest factored in.

Liberty Mutual’s combined ratio for 2017 was 105.6, up 7.3 points from the previous year.

Other result highlights:

Liberty Mutual is also restructuring its P/C operations. It realigned its consumer and commercial insurance businesses into two P/C divisions: Global Risk Solutions and Global Retail Markets.

Source: Liberty Mutual