Unitrin’s Q2 Profit Up Nearly $40 Million

Chicago-based property/casualty insurer Unitrin Inc. has reported second-quarter net income of $62.4 million (91 cents per common share), 57 percent higher than the $22.7 million (34 cents per common share) in profit the carrier saw in the second quarter of 2003. Unitrin CEO Dick Vie attributed the uptick primarily to improvements in the business the company acquired from now defunct Kemper Insurance Cos.

“In addition to our strong operating results, we favorably resolved two significant matters during the second quarter,” Vie said in a statement. “We substantially completed the conversion of our Kemper Auto and Home book of business onto Unitrin paper. We also collected substantially all of the $50 million owed to us under a disputed reserve indemnification.”

Unitrin also announced that it will combine the personal lines insurance operations of its multilines insurance segment with the operations of its Kemper Auto and Home segment in 2005, allowing the company to better compete in the personal lines marketplace.

Earned premiums were $617.6 million for the second quarter, substantially unchanged from the same period in 2003. Earned premiums increased by $16.9 million in the Kemper Auto and Home segment and increased by $8.8 million in the Unitrin direct segment. Earned premiums decreased by $18.1 million in the multilines insurance segment and decreased by $8 million in the specialty lines insurance segment.