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 CorpECM acquisition expected to be accretive with bargain purchase gain and improved combined ratio.