(RTTNews) - Canadian property and casualty insurance provider Intact Financial Corp. (IFC.TO: News ) reported Wednesday a loss in its third quarter, compared to prior year's profit, reflecting lower underwriting results mainly due to the impact of unusual number of summer storms on property results. Net operating income for the quarter fell 79.7% from last year. The company also said its Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend.

Intact, formerly known as ING Canada Inc, reported third-quarter net loss of C$8 million or C$0.07 per share, compared to net income of C$57.3 million or C$0.47 per share a year ago. The company attributed the loss mainly to lower underwriting results, the impact of market yield effect and a non-cash accounting loss related to the increase in value of its preferred shares portfolio.

Net operating income for the quarter fell to C$21.6 million or C$0.18 per share from C$106.4 million or C$0.88 per share in the corresponding quarter last year, reflects the impact of the high number of severe weather events, mainly affecting property results.

In the quarter, underwriting loss was C$53.2 million, compared to prior year's underlying income of C$61.9 million.

Intact, the largest provider of automobile, home and business insurance in Canada, reported that total revenues for the quarter were C$1.116 billion, compared to C$1.046 billion in the year ago quarter. Direct premiums written, excluding pools, rose 4% to C$1.14 billion from last year's C$1.10 billion, helped by gains in all lines of business, reflecting increases in both premiums and the number of risks insured.
Net premiums written was C$1.097 billion, compared to C$1.096 billion a year earlier, and net premiums earned dropped to C$1.019 billion from C$1.032 billion last year.

Commenting on the results, Charles Brindamour, president and chief executive officer, stated, "While the pace of growth of our direct written premiums has been most encouraging, the high costs of property damage associated with the unusual number of summer storms resulted in one of our worst underwriting results since the 1998 ice storm. Despite the disappointing impact of these events, our underlying home insurance results continued to improve and our auto insurance business performed well both during the quarter and throughout 2009."

In its preceding second quarter, Intact's net income declined to C$74.2 million or C$0.62 per share from C$112 million or C$0.91 per share last year. Net operating income decreased to C$92.9 million or C$0.77 per share from C$109.5 million or C$0.89 per share in the previous year. Intact's net premiums earned were C$1.011 billion, higher than C$996.1 million in the year-ago period. Direct premiums written advanced to C$1.248 billion from C$1.218 billion in the prior year.

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