On GameSpot: Wii Fit tells 10-year-old she's fat

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Q2 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

  • download
  • Print
  • Recommend
  • 0

2008-08-02 22:05:28.0

Tags: Horace Mann Educators Corp.

Question-and-Answer Session

Operator

(Operator instructions) Your first question comes from Robert Glasspiegel of Langen McAlenney.

Robert Glasspiegel – Langen McAlenney

The cat losses in this quarter, you did a good job of explaining that you have been reducing your coastal exposure and that we shouldn’t be nervous that this is representative of a trend that may unfold prospectively. But with your property growing pretty continuously better than your auto over the last several quarters, but perhaps the question might be, are you thinking about stepping up your reinsurance purchases, particularly given the pricing has started to come down?

Doug Reynolds

Thanks, Bob. This is Doug Reynolds. Every year we really go through a process of looking at our total reinsurance package and different opportunities and try and balance that against the last potential, our exposure that we have to – not only in hurricanes but others. And as we see opportunities, we obviously would take advantage of those. Reducing that, even though there has been a lot of activity this year in the, let’s call it, the middle of the country, the pricing opportunity is there for us to really keep pace with those over a period of time. Obviously if this year becomes the norm, then we will have to take a look at some different opportunities. But right now we really look at the entire package for opportunities to mitigate our risk at reasonable cost.

Robert Glasspiegel – Langen McAlenney

Okay. And switching gears, just on the auto side, your numbers and your checks sort of were not as positive about gas prices and frequency as Hartford and Progressive to date have been – why do you think you are not seeing any frequency positives yet? Is it the book that you are shown into perhaps or–?

Doug Reynolds

Yes. I would say that we’ve started to see some of the frequency benefits, but it has trailed a few of the other companies. And I do believe that it’s really targeted at our niche, which the educator, which we have such a large percentage of the book, over 80%. That is out there driving every day and they really don’t have an option to change some of those patterns, whether it’s the school or to other activities and events that are going on with the schools. So I think we typically have seen us trail maybe some of the general market trends in that regard, but we are seeing that.

TalkbackShare your ideas and expertise on this topic
What do you think?
The following tags are supported in BNET comments: <b></b> <i></i> <u></u> <pre></pre>
You are currently a guest | Login?
advertisement
Recommended Business Articles
advertisement