Old Republic International Corp

Old Republic International expects its newly acquired ECM business to run at a combined ratio between 90% and 95% and will report a bargain purchase gain next quarter. President and CEO Craig Smiddy said ECM should contribute to both the top and bottom line in the second half of the year, while CFO Francis Sodaro noted the gain and that ECM's results will be accretive to earnings and book value. The company reported second-quarter consolidated pretax operating income of $238 million with a combined ratio of 95.3%, as Specialty Insurance produced $199 million of pretax operating income and Title Insurance generated $56 million. Specialty's runoff transactional risk business required $40 million in reserve strengthening, and Title's expense ratio improved to 92.1% from 96.1%. Book value per share ended the quarter at $25.33, and the company paid $77 million in dividends while repurchasing $61 million of shares, leaving about $640 million remaining under its authorization.

Old Republic International Corporation announced that members of Everett Cash Mutual Insurance Co. approved the conversion of ECM from a mutual to a stock company and its acquisition by Old Republic. Old Republic also completed a subscription offering of its common stock to certain ECM members, employees, and non-employee directors, receiving subscriptions of approximately $25 million at $25.80 per share, a 35% discount to the volume-weighted average trading price of $39.70 for the 10-trading day period ending June 29, 2026. Upon the filing of amended articles on July 1, 2026, Old Republic will deliver up to approximately 956 thousand shares and finalize the acquisition of the ECM Group. President and CEO Craig R. Smiddy welcomed the ECM Group, highlighting its expertise in the commercial agricultural market and alignment with Old Republic's specialty strategy.