Old Republic Reports 2Q Loss

Old Republic International Corp., Chicago, has reported a net loss of $45.4 million ($0.20 per share) for the second quarter, compared with net income of $115.1 million ($0.49 per share) a year earlier. The company blamed continued weakness in its mortgage insurance and title insurance business lines for the loss. While operating revenues for the mortgage insurance business were up 18% over those of a year earlier, the segment had a pretax operating loss of $140.7 million, compared with profits of $36.8 million in the second quarter of 2007. The company said it suffered from a continued rise in claim costs, which were driven by higher delinquencies and claim severity. Its claims ratio stood at 192.5%, compared with 65.9% for the second quarter of 2007. The title insurance segment saw its revenues drop by over 24% and its pretax operating income decline by 3.6%. The segment reported a pretax loss of $4.6 million. The company also reported after-tax unrealized investment losses for its investments in the common stock of MGIC Investment Corp., The PMI Group, and LandAmerica Financial Group of $100.5 million, or $0.43 per share. All three holdings are categorized as temporarily impaired.