Liberty Mutual Holding Company continued to deal with the volatile Venezuelan market during the 2015 third quarter, from which it is pulling back. It also faced some energy related losses during that three-month period. The one-two punch hurt.

The Boston-based property/casualty insurer reported $427 million in net losses during the quarter as a result of both ($700 million before premium revenue and other income sources are factored in). Over the same period a year ago, Liberty Mutual pulled in $605 million in net income.

A.M. Best wasn’t spooked by the results. The ratings entity said that the financial strength rating of “A” (Excellent) for Liberty Mutual Holding Company and its subsidiaries remain unchanged in the wake of the insurer’s latest financial reports.

“In anticipation of no further Venezuela losses and continued solid underwriting performance, A.M. Best expects that [Liberty Mutual Holding Company’s] profitability will improve in fourth quarter 2015,” A.M. Best said.

Other Liberty Mutual results were static or more solid. The insurer’s net written premium during the quarter landed at more than $8.7 billion, down $179 million, or 2 percent, from the same period in 2014. The consolidated combined ratio came in at 95.6 during the quarter, inclusive of catastrophe impact and net incurred losses attributable to prior years. That’s 1.2 points better than the same period in 2014.

Other highlights from Liberty Mutual’s Q3:

• Catastrophe losses are booked at $239 million, down 17.6 percent ($51 million) from the 2014 third quarter.
• Net investment income was $759 million, down 5.6 percent ($45 million) from the same period last year.

Source: Liberty Mutual Holding Company Inc.