Old Republic International Corp. established second-quarter records for revenue and profits, according to the company’s latest earning statement.
During the second quarter, Old Republic’s title insurance segment generated net premiums and fees earned of $650.4 million, up 9.9 percent compared with the $591.6 million produced one year ago.
The unit produced total second-quarter operating revenue of $661 million, up 9.8 percent compared with $602 million for the second quarter of 2019.
“Given the challenges emanating from COVID-19, we are pleased with the results we posted for this quarter, particularly the very strong title insurance results and the recovery in shareholder’s equity since the end of the first quarter,” President and CEO Craig Smiddy said during a conference call with analysts, investors and journalists, according to a transcript provided by Seeking Alpha.
“The effects of COVID-19 and the associated governmental responses have indeed had a negative effect on the topline in the General Insurance Group in the second quarter,” Smiddy said. “However, our Title Insurance Group set yet another production record, again demonstrating that our strategic diversification between general insurance and title insurance works very well.”
Old Republic’s title insurance segment reported second-quarter net investment income of $10.3 million, up slightly compared with the $10.2 million one year ago. The unit’s claim costs for the second quarter were $17.7 million, down 2 percent compared with the $18.1 million one year ago.
“The title division second-quarter and year-to-date results remain strong. All time second-quarter and mid-year highs were set for both underwriting revenue and operation profit,” Title Insurance Group President Carolyn Monroe said, according to the transcript. “Our pretax operating income was $65.4 million for the quarter compared to $60.2 million in last year’s second quarter, with an increase of $5.2 million, or 8.6 percent.
“Despite all the unknown surrounding COVID-19, we remain cautiously optimistic going into the third quarter with a robust order count in both purchase and refinance transactions, a strong real estate market with 30-year mortgage rates remain historically low around 3 percent and expectations for these favorable rates to continue for the foreseeable future.”