Atlas Financial Holdings, Inc. (AFH) has reported a 0.85 percent rise in profit for the quarter ended Mar. 31, 2017. The company has earned $4.85 million, or $0.40 a share in the quarter, compared with $4.81 million, or $0.38 a share for the same period last year. Revenue during the quarter grew 16.54 percent to $49.82 million from $42.75 million in the previous year period. Net premium earned for the quarter increased 15.98 percent or $6.67 million to $48.43 million.
Total expenses move up
Benefits, losses and expenses for the quarter were at $42.35 million, or 87.46 percent of premium earned from $35.49 million or 85 percent of premium earned in the last year period. Operating income for the quarter was $7.46 million, compared with $7.26 million in the previous year period. Net investment income was at $1.14 million for the quarter, up 75.04 percent or $0.49 million from year-ago period. The company has recorded a gain on investments of $0.13 million in the quarter compared with a gain of $0.24 million for the previous year period.
Scott D. Wollney, Atlas' president and chief executive officer, stated, "Our focus on bottom line execution resulted in a combined ratio of 86.9% in the first quarter, which was indicative of our commitment to generating an above average underwriting profit in a highly-specialized market. We once again grew in a meaningful way with incremental price by leveraging our expertise and strong value proposition. As anticipated, the Company continued to see marginally lesser reduction in traditional taxi business while still experiencing strong growth in the limousine/livery and para-transit markets. We are cautiously optimistic about our niche and incremental opportunities in the light commercial auto segment generally. The competitive environment remains favorable and early indicators of increased profitable growth continue in our niche. More specifically, Atlas is benefiting from a continued trend of more properly licensed, owner-operator drivers that fit our predictive analytics based underwriting criteria in the expanding specialty markets on which we focus."
Liabilities outpace assets growth
Total assets increased 8.27 percent or $35.02 million to $458.35 million on Mar. 31, 2017. On the other hand, total liabilities were at $325.67 million as on Mar. 31, 2017, up 13.48 percent or $38.68 million from year-ago. Return on assets stood at 1.12 percent in the quarter, down 0.07 from 1.19 percent in the last year period. At the same time, return on equity was at 3.66 percent in the quarter, up 0.19 from 3.47 percent in the last year period.
Investments come down
Investments stood at $191.20 million as on Mar. 31, 2017, down 13.53 percent or $29.91 million from year-ago. Meanwhile, yield on investments went up 30 basis points to 0.60 percent in the quarter. Total debt was at $19.20 million as on Mar. 31, 2017, up 8.89 percent or $1.57 million from year-ago. Shareholders equity stood at $132.68 million as on Mar. 31, 2017, down 2.68 percent or $3.66 million from year-ago. As a result, debt to equity ratio went up 2 basis points to 0.14 percent in the quarter from 0.13 percent in the last year period.
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