LAST YEAR ..........
Was Patrons’ best year ever. The operative word is “was”!
We now have a new ‘Best Year Ever’!
2005 closed out with an improvement of over three points in the loss
ratio, and a small uptick in the expense ratio, together improving our
combined ratio to 85.2%. That is nearly a three point improvement over
2004!
Each year, we think that it can’t be realistically expected to
continue at this exceptional level, and perhaps it can’t, but
for now, we are enjoying it!
Weather has a lot to do with the results, and we’ve not seen
severe weather events in some time. We know that will change.
Luck plays some role in our business, but I believe it was Leo Durocher
who observed, “You can’t be lucky every day, but you can
if you get good pitching”! Needless to say, with our cadre of
professional agents and dedicated employees, we’re getting good
pitching!
Growth took a little breather in 2005, with both policy count and premium
finishing up 4%. Not on a par with the three year average of 12%, but
not too bad in a reasonably competitive market. We’d like to move
that number back up to the 8-10% range in 2006, and will be aggressively
seeking profitable growth opportunities.
Our policy retention is also at a “best ever” level, hovering
right around 90%. That’s a great number on a personal lines book
of business.
Our business will continue to present challenges to all of us on a
daily basis, but we’ve demonstrated that challenges many times
lead to opportunities, and we will make the most of them.
Walter C. Smythe, CPCU, AAI, CIC
psmythe@patrons.com
President
