progressive mreport-10/04

The Progressive Corporation reported its October 2004 results. Net premiums written increased 9% to $1.279.8 million compared to October 2003. Net income decreased 4% to $140.2 million while the combined ratio increased 2.3 percentage points to 87.0%. Progressive continues to respond to claims from hurricanes in August and September, with losses representing 1.5 percentage points of the loss ratio for the month. On October 22, Progressive repurchased 16.9 million shares for $1.5 billion through a Dutch auction tender offer.