Employers' net increases

Tighter control on costs and focused attention on the risks it was underwriting brought a financial turnaround at Reno-based Employers Insurance Co.

of Nevada.

The company said last week it earned $2.1 million in the quarter ended March 31 compared with a loss of $1.3 million in the same quarter a year earlier.

Employers Insurance and its subsidiary Fremont Employers Insurance Co.

provide workers compensation coverage in Nevada and California.

It acquired the California business in mid-2002.

The company said its combined ratio, a key measure of insurance companies' health, improved to 99.8 percent at the end of the quarter from 109.2 percent a year earlier.

The combined ratio measures the amount paid out in losses compared with the amount earned in premiums.

A ratio of more than 100 means a company is paying out more in claims than it collected in premiums.

The biggest factor in the improved combined ratio, Employers Insurance said, was better control of its costs for lawyers, investigators and others it hires when claims are adjusted.