Liberty Mutual Holding Company has reported its Q1 2023 results, reporting a net loss of US$74 million primarily due to catastrophe losses from severe weather storms across the Midwest.

The insurer reported a combined ratio of 103.2%.

Net written premium for the quarter was US$11.9 billion, a 2.8% increase from the same period in 2022. Its global retail markets were up 5.1% at US$8 billion while the global risk solutions divisions dipped 3.5% to $3.815 billion.

Revenue experienced an increase of 7.5% to US$12.7 billion, up from US$11.9 billion from the previous year.

“Excluding catastrophes, inflation continues to weigh on underlying personal lines results as parts, materials, and labour costs have remained high,” said Tim Sweeney, Liberty Mutual’s president and CEO. “Given this elevated loss trend environment, we have continued pushing for rate and have achieved premium renewal rate increases of 12.8% in U.S. Personal Lines over the last 12 months.”

In other Liberty Mutual news, the company is expected to experience significant premium gains from increases to homeowners’ insurance rates approved in the latter half of 2022. This would amount to an increase of 20.8%.

Liberty Mutual also received approval to raise rates in twelve Southern states to about 10%, which could total US$408.4 million in the region based on a constant customer base.