Progressive's quarterly profit more than doubles on strong insurance demand

(Reuters) - Progressive Corp said on Tuesday its third-quarter profit more than doubled, driven by strong demand for personal auto insurance policies.

Encouraged by expectations of a soft landing, individuals and businesses are spending on insurance policies despite higher prices. Wage growth and a relatively strong labor market have also given confidence to customers to buy policies.

Net income of the insurer rose to $2.33 billion, or $3.97 per share, in the three months ended September 30, compared with $1.12 billion, or $1.89 per share, a year ago.

The company had 29.3 million personal insurance policies in force, 15% higher than last year.

Net premiums written jumped 25% to $19.46 billion, while its combined ratio was 89%, versus 92.4% last year. A ratio below 100% means the insurer earned more in premiums than it paid out in claims.

Progressive also said it incurred catastrophe losses of $563 million in September related to Hurricane Helena. The company expects its vehicle business to incur catastrophe losses of nearly $325 million in October due to Hurricane Milton.

The Mayfield Village, Ohio-based company's shares have risen about 58.1% in 2024 as of last close, compared with a 22.9% gain in the benchmark S&P 500 index.

(Reporting by Prakhar Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)