The Hartford Financial Services Group said it expects to report higher second-quarter profits, despite $251 million in catastrophe losses related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The property-casualty insurer, which will report official results for the quarter ended June 30 later this month, released preliminary results Wednesday showing net income of $463 million for the quarter, up from $372 million in the same quarter of 2019.
The COVID-19 losses include reserves for business interruption insurance claims and workers’ compensation claims, as well as group life insurance claims, the company said.
Also included in the preliminary estimate of COVID-19 losses were reserves for estimated legal defense costs related to lawsuits over denials of business interruption claims on policies requiring direct physical loss or damage to trigger coverage.
The Hartford and fellow P&C insurer Travelers Cos. are facing a barrage of lawsuits over those claims.
The Hartford’s COVID-19 losses for the second quarter pale in comparison to the $1.37 billion hit anticipated by Swiss P&C giant Chubb.
