Storms cost State Auto Financial

State Auto Financial posted a second-quarter loss that the insurer is partly blaming on major storms.

The Columbus-based insurer said Thursday that it lost $6.2 million, or 14 cents per share, for the three months that ended June 30, compared with a profit of $6 million, or a gain of 14 cents per share, for the same period in 2018.

Losses tied to what State Auto calls catastrophic storms totaled $47.4 million for the quarter, up nearly $10 million from the same three months in 2018. There were other losses tied to storms as well.

Revenue for the quarter totaled $340.1 million, even with the second quarter in 2018.

It is not uncommon for insurers to have a significant number of claims tied to storms during the spring.

“The second quarter was an active weather quarter, and it clearly impacted our results,” Mike Larocco, the company’s president, chairman and CEO, told analysts on a conference call.

While the company plans for tornadoes, hail and wind, the quarter exceeded the company’s expectations, he said.

Larocco also said that the company’s largest sector, personal auto insurance, continues to be profitable and is growing, but it, too, had its share of struggles during the quarter.

“We’ve seen competitors take fairly aggressive action, both rate and compensation, which has made an already challenging market even more so,” he said. “While we’ll never knowingly sacrifice profit for growth, we do feel we have the opportunity to improve our growth in the second half and expect we will. I am pleased that our auto retention, while still much too low due to the necessary changes we made to get back to profitability, has begun to improve.”

State Auto shares, which had been trading at a multiyear high, fell 5.7% to $32.61 in Thursday trading.