Liberty Mutual Holding Company said consolidated third quarter net income more than quadrupled to $897 million compared to $215 million during the same period a year ago.
Catastrophe losses remained elevated at nearly $1.1 billion, nearly matching the total from the third quarter 2023.
Losses from Hurricane Helene totaled $458 million. Liberty Mutual about two weeks ago released an estimated pretax loss of $550 million for the late September storm. At that time, Liberty Mutual also put a pretax catastrophe loss range of between $250 million and $350 million from Hurricane Milton, to be reflected in the fourth quarter.
Liberty Mutual said Q3 net investment income increased about 45% compared year-over-year to about $1.2 billion.
Net written premiums in Liberty Mutual’s US Retail Markets fell 5.3% to about $7.6 billion but CEO Tim Sweeny in a statement said the insurer continued to make “significant progress” in the segment, which reported a Q3 combined ratio of 94.9—a nearly 14-point improvement. He said “earned rate, underwriting actions, and improved frequency trends positively impacted the underlying loss ratio.”
Global Risk Solutions’ net written premiums in Q3 were about $4.1 billion, 1.8% less than Q3 2023.
Liberty Mutual consolidated Q3 combined ratio improved about 6 points to 96.7. Sweeny said the Boston-based insurer remains focused on meeting its target combined ratio of 95 in 2025.
For the year as of September 30, net income at Liberty Mutual was $3.2 billion compared to a loss of $435 million last year.