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CELINA – The Business Enterprise Center (BEC) at Wright State University-Lake Campus offers professional, cost-effective services to support the area’s businesses and industrial economic development. Included in these services are training courses that can enhance technical skills necessary to a successful workforce. Their summer schedule is now available.  

Classes include:

For the complete course schedule visit www.wright.edu/lake/prospective/work.html. Contact Carol Jones at carol.jones@wright.edu or 419.586.0355 to register.
6/4

 

Central sees positives in year's results

For The Van Wert independent

A positive outlook was the message President F.W. Purmort shared with policyholders of the Central Insurance Companies during its 135th annual policyholders’ meeting on May 12.

“It’s very positive here at Central,” said Purmort, noting that while the results of the past few years have been less than favorable, the company is beginning to see more positive returns. “The company is incredibly resilient and strong,” he said. “We are definitely financially sound.” 

After the reading of the minutes from the 134th meeting by Edd Buhl, senior vice president and secretary, Purmort began the president’s report by focusing on why Central is in business. 

 “We have many, many, many objectives we’re trying to achieve in any quarter of any year,” he said.  “While our objectives were up and down last year, the bottom line is we fulfilled the promise to three important groups of people:  our policyholders, our agency partners, and our people. We upheld the charge we have been challenged with.”

Purmort outlined the factors that have affected Central’s bottom line the past few years, including greater than average weather losses, a series of large commercial and personal lines losses, an increase in expenses, and an incredibly competitive marketplace.

“We’re in the business to pay losses,” said Purmort. “Thankfully, the financial strength of this company allows us to do that.”

Purmort addressed premiums for both commercial and personal business, noting that commercial lines decreased its policy count, but personal lines experienced sizeable growth and average premiums continue to increase. 

Looking forward, Central will focus on more growth in both personal and commercial lines, making underwriting decisions that favor the company, and continuing to provide top quality service despite the fact it faces a very uncertain market. 

“We need to make sound selection decisions,” Purmort said.  “We need to build relationships with people that will add to the strength of our company. We must determine where we want to be in the long term and then set a course to get there.”

The Central president concluded by addressing the company’s positives including solid agency partners, a conservative investment portfolio, a focus on new agency relationships, and recent upturns in the economy.

“It’s no mystery to where we are and how we got here,” Purmort said.  “Financially, we are sound.  It’s going to take hard work, but our confidence is high and we are very positive about who we are and why we’re in business.”

Thad Eikenbary, vice president and treasurer, began the treasurer’s report by noting: “Although calendar year 2009 was another challenging one for the Central, positive investment results during the year helped to mitigate the impact of our underwriting results.”

Eikenbary reported that Central’s direct written premiums increased slightly in 2009 to $587.6 million.  The 4-point drop in the combined ratio to 108.3 percent was the result of specific underwriting initiatives implemented through the year that were geared toward returning the company to profitability. 

Net investment income for the company was flat as compared to the previous year, with earnings of $41.2 million. 

“Income from the company’s investment portfolio continues to be a very consistent aspect of the entire operation,” said Eikenbary. “In 2009, the non-affiliated stock holdings achieved gains of $21.1 million.”

Central’s bond portfolio increased by 4.8 percent during 2009. The quality of the portfolio remained very solid and Central continued to manage the maturity of the portfolio to ensure that it maintained the liquidity to meet the company’s financial needs. Central’s stock portfolio represented 11.9 percent of the company’s total invested assets.

Central registered a net loss after taxes and dividends of $3.4 million in 2009, which was a significant improvement over 2008.  While the company experienced a net underwriting loss of $41.8 million, this was offset by investment returns, as well as federal income tax recoverables due to Central’s negative underwriting results during the last two years.

On the positive side, Central’s assets increased by 2.3 percent to $1.42 billion, and by the end of 2009, the company’s Policyholders’ Security Fund had increased by 3.6 percent to $500.6 million.

“Although 2009 was another challenging year for the Central Insurance Companies, it was a year in which we made tough decisions and proactively addressed things that led to the significantly negative results of 2008,” Eikenbary said. “As was the case in 2008, however, the company’s financial strength continued to enable us to deliver a high level of service to our policyholders and other customers throughout 2009.”

In other business, F.W. Purmort, D.P. Maconachy, and E.J. Noonan were re-elected to the Board of Directors for a three-year term. Other directors include Buhl, J.L. Hanson, T.B. Kearney, R.J. Kutella, R.S. Lawson, and C.A. Runser. 

Central Mutual Insurance Company is a personal and commercial property and casualty insurance company operating exclusively through independent insurance agents in eighteen states. The home office is located in Van Wert, with regional offices located in Dallas, Atlanta, Boston, and Van Wert.