Nationwide Sales, Profit Up In Recent Quarter
November 7, 2014 by Mark Williams, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
Nov. 06– A combination of quiet summer weather and higher sales of insurance and financial products helped drive Nationwide’s earnings higher in the third quarter.
The insurer said today that its net operating income rose by 8 percent to $272 million for the three months that ended Sept. 30 compared with $251 million for the same period in 2013.
Revenue for the quarter rose to $6.2 billion, up from $6 billion for the third quarter of 2013.
“Overall, we are very pleased with our top line growth and bottom-line performance,” said Mark Thresher, Nationwide’s CFO.
Nationwide’s property and casualty insurance business had net operating income of $189 million in the quarter while the insurer’s financial-services business had net operating income of $188 million. Both were up from the same period in 2013.
Financial services revenue totaled $5.1 billion in the quarter.
Nationwide sells an assortment of financial products ranging from life insurance to mutual funds.
Universal life insurance products, which provide a combination of insurance and investment choices for consumers, have been popular, Thresher said. Sales of annuity products also have been strong.
Nationwide also has been benefiting from the record performance by stock markets. As customers’ assets increase, so do the fees the insurer collects.
Revenue from auto, home and commercial lines of insurance has gone up about 5 percent so far in 2014 to $15 billion through Sept. 30.
Calmer summer weather reduced catastrophic claims during the quarter. But year-to-date weather-related claims totaled $1.5 billion compared with $923 million for the first month of 2013.
The higher claims this year primarily were the result of severe storms in the first half of the year.
For the year, net operating income totaled $806 million, down from $1 billion for the same period in 2013.
So far in 2014, Nationwide has paid $11.6 billion in auto, home, life and other claims.
Nationwide also announced during the quarter that it is moving to a single brand and getting rid of the blue-box logo in favor of an updated version of the Nationwide “N and eagle” brand mark.
The company has operated under multiple brands, including Allied, Harleysville, Scottsdale, Crestbrook and Veterinary Pet Insurance.