Intact Financial Q1 Net Income Higher
Intact Financial's (IFC.TO) on Tuesday said its first-quarter profit rose.Net income was up 11% to $752 million, or $4.12 per share, from $676 million, or $3.69, in the prior year period.Operating direct premiums written (DPW) rose 4%, to $5.6 billion. The increase is due to improvements in Commercial and Specialty lines growth, particularly in the UK and Ireland, and continued strength in Personal lines, the company said.Underwriting income, which measures the difference between premiums collected and the claims plus expenses paid, also increased 4% to $504 million, during the quarter.Combined operating ratio was unchanged year over year, at 91.3%.Intact will pay a regular quarterly dividend of $1.47 per share on June 30, to shareholders of record on June 16."Our focus on driving profitable growth through pricing sophistication, product expansion and distribution initiatives in Commercial and Specialty lines is paying off," said chief executive Charles Brindamour. "Our strong balance sheet and capital generation enable us to maintain significant firepower to pursue acquisition opportunities. It also allows us to deploy capital on share buybacks when our shares are meaningfully undervalued. We continue to execute against our financial objectives of exceeding industry ROE by 500 basis points annually and 10% NOIPS growth annually over time."Infact Financial shares closed up $1.02 to $259.10 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.