Insurer Progressive's Q4 profit surges on strong personal insurance business
Jan 24 (Reuters) - Progressive Corp on Wednesday reported a 141% rise in its fourth-quarter profit, driven by strong growth in its personal auto insurance business.
Shares of the company rose 5% to $178.77 in premarket trading.
The insurer reported net income of $1.99 billion, or $3.37 per share, compared with $826 million, or $1.40 per share, a year earlier.
Encouraged by increasing bets of a soft landing, customers are beginning to revive spending on insurance policies. Growing job security, thanks to a fairly tight labor market, has also given them enough confidence to purchase policies they otherwise would not.
The Mayfield, Ohio-based company's total personal lines volumes jumped 9% to 25.5 million policies in December, compared with the same month last year. (Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Shweta Agarwal)
