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Terra Stock Value Scores Biggest One-Year Gain Ever. Company's Assets, Owner/Insureds' Equity Achieve New Record Highs.
Corte Madera, CA - Terra Insurance Company has done it again, for its 16th consecutive year achieving a record-high book value per share:
$178.53 on December 31, 2003. The new record represents a 12.6% increase over year-end 2002's then-record $158.54.
Founded in 1969, Terra reconstituted itself as a risk retention group
(RRG) in 1988. 2003's $19.99-per-share value jump was the largest one-year increase in Terra RRG's history. The RRG's initial owner/insureds capitalized the company at $10 per share. Since then, their investments have appreciated by almost 1700%. Terra owner/insureds' equity also reached a new pinnacle at year-end 2003, topping the $20 million mark.
Because Terra is a risk retention group, those seeking insurance coverage from it must, by law, become owners of the company. "Some firms are averse to this approach," Mr. Coduto said, "and they go out into the marketplace year after year, searching for the cheapest professional liability insurance products they can find. Given the desolate state of the professional liability insurance industry, and given the nature of our insureds' practices, Terra's current rates are competitive even before you consider the value of stock value appreciation or premium rebates."
Terra provides professional liability and other practice-related insurance products principally to firms that offer geoprofessional and environmental services, in whole or in part. Historically, other professional liability insurance companies have regarded such firms as "too risky" to underwrite, making Terra's extraordinary performance all the more remarkable. According to Mr. Coduto, "Gone are the days, at least for the time being, when more than 50 professional liability insurers vied for just about any prospect's business in order to boost the cash flow needed for investments. Only a handful of insurers are left, and some of them refuse to cover firms that provide geotechnical and environmental services, while others will do so only for a somewhat breathtaking price." Terra owner/insureds also include firms that provide civil and structural engineering, as well as those that offer "earth engineering" services, such as construction materials engineering and testing, brownfields revitalization, biological/ecological consulting, geology, and infrastructure security....
A. M. Best Company, the insurance company evaluation organization, rates Terra A ("Excellent"). Terra comprises 90 owner/insureds whose gross annual fees range from $500,000 to more than $150 million.
More information about Terra and the products it offers, as well as free risk management materials and a copy of the Terra "QuickApp,"can be found at www.terrarrg.com, or by contacting Terra Insurance Company, 2 Fifer Avenue/Suite 100, Corte Madera, CA 94925; tel.1/800-872-0077 (in CA, 415/927-2901); e-mail terra@terrarrg.com
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