Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 18, 1995 TAG: 9502200044
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Shenandoah Life Insurance Co. reported a 1 percent increase in income last year after giving up its losing business of writing disability income policies and paying increasingly onerous taxes.
President Robert W. Clark told the annual meeting of policyholders Friday that the company earned $4.3 million in 1994. He called 1994 ``a very successful year'' after a somewhat smaller gain in 1993 and a loss in 1992. Shenandoah, as a mutual company, is owned by its policyholders.
He said the company had a surplus of $55.1 million, an increase of 8.4 percent from 1993, and the ratio of surplus to liability of 8.4 percent is the highest in 10 years.
He said 97 percent of the bonds in Shenandoah's investment portfolio are investment grade; less than 1 percent of investment mortgages are delinquent; and the company doesn't own any derivatives, investments which have proven controversial and risky for other companies.
Shenandoah Life has quit writing disability income policies because of losses from that line of business, Clark said. That is part of a nationwide trend, he told the meeting, and many companies have stopped writing such policies.
Clark said that the tax burden is increasing and took 50 percent of revenues last year. He estimated that taxes will take 70 percent of revenues this year.
A goal for 1995, he said, is development of a three-year automation plan. The company will also bring its agents to the new Hotel Roanoke in the spring for an extended training session.
All major insurance lines contributed to last year's gain: Individual life and health contributed $2.1 million, group insurance provided $2.3 million and annuities accounted for $3.7 million. Total premium income was up 2.4 percent, and the company paid $89.8 million in benefits to policyholders, including $3.5 million in dividends.
Shenandoah Life's assets increased 5.3 percent in 1994 to $659 million.
The 110 voters unanimously re-elected four directors to three-year terms: Clark; Thomas L. Robertson, president of Carilion Health System; William E. Lavery, former president of Virginia Tech; and William C. Stott Jr., a Virginia Beach lawyer.
by CNB