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| 8-K - FORM 8-K - SELECTIVE INSURANCE GROUP INC | v236944_8k.htm |
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Selective Insurance Group, Inc.
40 Wantage Avenue
Branchville, New Jersey 07890
www.selective.com
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For release at 8:15 a.m. (ET) on October 11, 2011
Investor Contact: Jennifer DiBerardino
973-948-1364, jennifer.diberardino@selective.com
Media Contact: Gail Petersen
973-948-1307, gail.petersen@selective.com
Selective Insurance Group Announces Third Quarter Storm Losses
Branchville, NJ – October 11, 2011 – Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SIGI) today announced pre-tax catastrophe losses for the quarter of approximately $70 million, or 20 points on the combined ratio. The loss estimate is net of reinsurance recoveries and inclusive of reinstatement premium. Hurricane Irene represented the majority of the catastrophe losses at $40 million (approximately $50 million on a gross basis) while the balance came from six additional events in the quarter as well as $11 million of prior period storm development.
“In my 31-year career, I have never encountered such a confluence of extreme weather events in one quarter. In a recent Catastrophe Bulletin, Property Claim Services, or PCS, provided a preliminary estimate of Hurricane Irene losses of $3.7 billion for the industry, including $2.1 billion in our top four premium states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland,” said Selective Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Gregory E. Murphy. “These storms have been devastating to thousands of individuals and we have had Claims team members working around the clock to assist our customers with getting their lives back in order.”
“We believe this year’s unprecedented catastrophic weather activity is further evidence of the need for higher pricing,” said Mr. Murphy. “We continue to be a price leader achieving our 10th consecutive quarter of pure commercial lines price increases with 2.7% in the third quarter while also achieving personal lines price increases of 5.9%.”
About Selective Insurance Group, Inc.
Selective Insurance Group, Inc. is a holding company for seven property and casualty insurance companies rated “A+” (Superior) by A.M. Best. Through independent agents, the insurance companies offer primary and alternative market insurance for commercial and personal risks, and flood insurance underwritten by the National Flood Insurance Program. Selective maintains a website at www.selective.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
In this press release, Selective and its management discuss and make statements based on currently available information regarding their intentions, beliefs, current expectations, and projections regarding Selective's future operations and performance.
Certain statements in this report, including information incorporated by reference, are “forward-looking statements” as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("PSLRA"). The PSLRA provides a safe harbor under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 for forward-looking statements. These statements relate to our intentions, beliefs, projections, estimations or forecasts of future events or our future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our or our industry’s actual results, levels of activity, or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by use of words such as “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “target,” “project,” “intend,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “pro forma,” “seek,” “likely” or “continue” or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions, and we can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. We undertake no obligation, other than as may be required under the federal securities laws, to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected, forecasted or estimated by us in forward-looking statements, include, but are not limited to:
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difficult conditions in global capital markets and the economy;
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continued deterioration in the public debt and equity markets and private investment marketplace that could lead to investment losses and fluctuations in interest rates;
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ratings downgrades could affect investment values and therefore statutory surplus;
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the adequacy of our loss reserves and loss expense reserves;
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the frequency and severity of natural and man-made catastrophic events, including, but not limited to, hurricanes, tornadoes, windstorms, earthquakes, hail, terrorism, explosions, severe winter weather, floods and fires;
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adverse market, governmental, regulatory, legal or judicial conditions or actions;
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the concentration of our business in the Eastern Region;
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the cost and availability of reinsurance;
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our ability to collect on reinsurance and the solvency of our reinsurers;
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uncertainties related to insurance premium rate increases and business retention;
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changes in insurance regulations that impact our ability to write and/or cease writing insurance policies in one or more states, particularly changes in New Jersey automobile insurance laws and regulations;
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recent federal financial regulatory reform provisions that could pose certain risks to our operations;
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our ability to maintain favorable ratings from rating agencies, including A.M. Best, Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch;
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our entry into new markets and businesses; and
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other risks and uncertainties we identify in filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, our Annual Report on Form 10-K and other periodic reports.
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These risk factors may not be exhaustive. We operate in a continually changing business environment, and new risk factors emerge from time-to-time. We can neither predict such new risk factors nor can we assess the impact, if any, of such new risk factors on our businesses or the extent to which any factor or combination of factors may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements in this report. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events discussed in this report might not occur.
Selective’s SEC filings can be accessed through the Investor Relations’ section of Selective’s website, www.selective.com, or through the SEC’s EDGAR Database at www.sec.gov (Selective EDGAR CIK No. 0000230557).
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