Not such a great day for me. Yes, Lyondell got bought out. Nice. But in my insurance portfolio, Aspen gets tarnished by IPCR’s earnings warning regarding floods in North England and in New South Wales, Australia. Aspen has exposure to the UK, but not necessarily Australia. I find it unlikely that it should have driven down the price 4% though.On another front after falling 8% over two weeks, Safety Insurance fell another 1.3% today over fears that liberalizing Massachusetts auto insurance markets will lead to decreased profitability in the future. A few notes: 1) the proposed liberalizations will not likely make it through the legislature. 2) the liberalizations are not thorough enough to attract meaningful competition to Massachusetts. 3) Safety management is ready for the liberalizations if they should happen. They have proven themselves to be worthy competitors over the years.
Were I able to buy Safety for myself (I can’t because of restrictions), I would do so here. Have a good night.
full disclosure: long LYO SAFT AHL
Any company that can make money insuring Massachusetts drivers (the local term for which I won’t repeat here) has impressed me already. I think I’d sooner insure the field in a demolition derby.
And nice results from NE, too.
SAFT has continued to get drubbed with the rest of the industry, but I like it here. Book will give it support, and I think earnings will not disappoint in any major way over the next two years.