AM Best Revises Outlooks to Negative for Agrinational Insurance Company
AM Best has revised the outlooks to negative from stable and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "a-" (Excellent) of Agrinational Insurance Company (Agrinational) (headquartered in Colchester, VT).
The Credit Ratings (ratings) reflect Agrinational's balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management. The company also receives rating enhancement provided by its ultimate parent, Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) (NYSE:ADM).
The negative outlook reflects ongoing volatility in Agrinational's underwriting over the last five years, driven by a higher frequency of high severity losses stemming from its property exposures. The company's last five years of underwriting results have been unprofitable, although mitigated by modest but favorable investment returns as well as its low-cost expense structure. Agrinational took corrective measures, through partnership with ADM and third-party risk engineers, by implementing enhancements to the global loss prevention program that allow for focused mitigation of operational exposures through strategic investments. While the company produced net loss results in 2024, due to a large claim, management expects improvements in risk infrastructure and loss control to generate positive trends in operating performance.
The ratings also reflect rating enhancement provided to Agrinational by ADM, one of the world's largest agricultural processors and food ingredient providers. Agrinational holds a strategic position within ADM, serving a critical role in meeting certain global insurance requirements and providing risk management services to ADM and its subsidiaries. ADM in turn provides implicit and explicit support to Agrinational.
Negative rating action could occur due to deterioration in risk-adjusted capitalization from higher frequency and high severity underwriting losses, exacerbated by high levels of underwriting leverage and resulting in a reduced level of capital that does not support the current assessment. Negative rating action could occur due to negative rating pressure on the credit profile of its ultimate parent, ADM, or if intercompany receivables are not settled at their nominal values. Positive rating action, although unlikely, could occur due to sustained improvement in the company's balance sheet strength.
This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Best's Credit Ratings, Best's Performance Assessments, Best's Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best's Ratings & Assessments.
AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.
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Sebastian Caballero
Financial Analyst
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Fred Eslami
Associate Director
+1 908 882 1759
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Christopher Sharkey
Associate Director, Public Relations
+1 908 882 2310
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Al Slavin
Senior Public Relations Specialist
+1 908 882 2318
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