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Definity Financial Corporation Reports Second Quarter 2022 Results

Definity Financial Corporation Reports Second Quarter 2022 Results
Canada NewsWire
TORONTO, August 2, 2022

TORONTO, August 2, 2022 /CNW/ – (TSX: DFY)(in Canadian dollars except as otherwise noted)

Published

on

Definity Financial Corporation Reports Second Quarter 2022 Results

Canada NewsWire

TORONTO, August 2, 2022 /CNW/ - (TSX: DFY)
(in Canadian dollars except as otherwise noted)

Highlights

  • Premiums increased 12.6% in the quarter, driven by growth across all lines of business, with double digit growth continuing in commercial lines, Sonnet, and personal property
  • Combined ratio1 of 95.8% in Q2 2022 was bolstered by the strong underwriting performance in our personal auto and commercial lines, and remained in our target range despite elevated catastrophe losses1 of 5.8 percentage points in the quarter
  • Operating net income1 of $48.8 million in Q2 2022, compared to $52.6 million in Q2 2021, resulting in operating EPS1 of $0.42 per share. Operating ROE1 was 10.7% over the last twelve months
  • Financial position remained resilient, despite significant declines in capital markets, with book value per share1 of $19.51, down 4.4% in the quarter but 3.4% higher than a year ago

Executive Messages

"The underlying strength in our business, against the backdrop of ongoing firm market conditions, was once again demonstrated by delivering a 95.8% combined ratio in a quarter with the 6th largest catastrophe event in Canadian history. Profitability in personal auto remained strong, but was down from a year ago, reflecting claims frequency moving off pandemic-related lows as well as the impact of inflation on claims severity. Our commercial business is generating solid underwriting results and is well positioned to continue gaining market share. We were pleased with our continued strong top line growth of 12.6% in the quarter. Our underwriting capabilities and pricing sophistication give us confidence in our growth ambitions. Midway through the year, we remain on track to deliver on our financial targets as an innovative, digitally-focused industry leader."
Rowan Saunders, President & CEO

"The resilience of our business has been on display throughout 2022 as we've maintained a strong financial position in the face of numerous headwinds, including elevated catastrophe losses and a significant correction in capital markets. The rising yield environment again negatively impacted our fixed income investments, and ultimately our book value, but has begun to benefit us in the form of higher net investment income, which is expected to continue in the coming quarters. Solid underwriting and higher net investment income combined to generate an operating ROE of 10.7%. We believe we are well positioned to continue delivering value to shareholders as we grow profitably and deploy our capital in a disciplined manner over time."
Philip Mather, EVP & CFO

Consolidated Results

(in millions of dollars, except as otherwise noted)


Q2 2022

Q2 2021

Change


2022 YTD

2021 YTD

Change













Gross written premiums





984.7

874.6

12.6 %


1,727.2

1,533.3

12.6 %

Net earned premiums





799.6

697.2

14.7 %


1,568.0

1,363.5

15.0 %













Claims ratio1





62.7 %

60.6 %

2.1 pts


61.0 %

59.6 %

1.4 pts

Expense ratio1





33.1 %

33.5 %

(0.4) pts


33.0 %

33.1 %

(0.1) pts

Combined ratio1





95.8 %

94.1 %

1.7 pts


94.0 %

92.7 %

1.3 pts













Underwriting income





34.0

41.2

(7.2)


94.2

99.2

(5.0)

Net investment income





31.8

24.2

7.6


57.6

47.1

10.5













Net income





21.0

43.9

(22.9)


69.3

126.3

(57.0)

Operating net income1





48.8

52.6

(3.8)


113.4

113.2

0.2

 


Q2 2022

Q2 2021

Change


2022 YTD

2021 YTD

Change













Per share measures (in dollars)
























Diluted EPS





0.18

0.42

(0.24)


0.59

1.21

(0.62)

Operating EPS1





0.42

0.51

(0.09)


0.97

1.09

(0.12)

Book value per share ("BVPS")1









19.51

18.86

0.65













Rolling 12 months return measures            












Return on equity ("ROE")1









7.6 %

13.2 %

(5.6) pts

Operating ROE1









10.7 %

13.5 %

(2.8) pts

  • Gross written premiums ("GWP") for the second quarter of 2022 increased by $110.1 million or 12.6% compared to the second quarter of 2021, driven by growth across all our lines of business. Personal lines GWP was up 10.4% with increases in both our broker and direct businesses. Commercial lines GWP increased 17.9% as we continued to focus on growth in this line of business. Customer relief related to the COVID-19 pandemic, which ended in May 2022, resulted in a reduction in GWP of approximately $8 million (Q2 2021: $14 million) and a reduction in net earned premiums of approximately $13 million (Q2 2021: $16 million).

    Year to date, GWP increased by $193.9 million or 12.6% compared to 2021. Personal lines GWP increased 10.4% and commercial lines GWP increased 18.4%. The impact of the customer relief related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the first six months of 2022 was a reduction in GWP of approximately $21 million (2021: $28 million) and a reduction in net earned premiums of approximately $26 million (2021: $29 million).

  • Underwriting results for the second quarter of 2022 produced underwriting income of $34.0 million and a combined ratio of 95.8%, compared to underwriting income of $41.2 million and a combined ratio of 94.1% in the same quarter a year ago. Our underwriting results were strong despite the impact of the significant windstorm in Ontario and Québec in May. Catastrophe losses impacted the combined ratio by 5.8 percentage points, compared to only 1.8 percentage points in the same quarter a year ago. The increase in catastrophe losses was partially offset by higher favourable prior year claims development and an improvement in the core accident year claims ratio.

    Year to date, our underwriting income decreased by $5.0 million and led to a combined ratio of 94.0% in 2022 as compared to 92.7% in 2021. Results were impacted by higher catastrophe losses, partially offset by higher favourable prior year claims development and an improvement in the core accident year claims ratio. Catastrophe losses impacted the combined ratio by 4.0 percentage points, compared to only 1.5 percentage points in 2021.

  • Net investment income increased $7.6 million in the second quarter of 2022 and $10.5 million year to date, driven primarily by the investment of funds generated from our underwriting results and business growth, net proceeds retained by the Company from the initial public offering ("IPO") and related transactions, as well as higher fixed income yields.

Net Income and Operating Net Income

  • Net income was $21.0 million in the second quarter of 2022 compared to $43.9 million in the second quarter of 2021. Net income decreased due primarily to higher market value losses on our bond portfolio due to increasing fixed income yields, an investment impairment charge of $19.3 million in the quarter reflective of the significant volatility in equity markets, and lower underwriting income driven by higher catastrophe losses. These were partially offset by higher net investment income.

    Year to date, net income was $69.3 million compared to $126.3 million in 2021 due primarily to the same factors that impacted the second quarter. In 2021, we also recorded realized gains of $37.5 million on our equity portfolio that were triggered on the sale of certain investments to facilitate a transfer to a new investment manager for foreign equities.
    In the second quarter of 2022 and year to date, the significant increase in fixed income yields resulted in higher market value losses on our bond portfolio, which were largely offset by a discounting recovery on our claim liabilities.

  • Operating net income decreased to $48.8 million in the second quarter of 2022 compared to $52.6 million in the second quarter of 2021 driven by lower underwriting income. Year to date, operating net income was $113.4 million compared to $113.2 million in 2021.

  • Operating ROE was 10.7% for the twelve-month period ended June 30, 2022 compared to 13.5% in 2021. Operating ROE was lower due to the dilutive impact of the large increase in equity year over year, driven by operating net income generated and the net proceeds retained by Definity from the IPO and related transactions.

Line of Business Results

(in millions of dollars, except as otherwise noted)


Q2 2022

Q2 2021

Change


2022 YTD

2021 YTD

Change













Personal insurance












Gross written premiums












Auto





420.0

386.6

8.6 %


742.2

689.3

7.7 %

Property





268.7

237.0

13.4 %


469.1

408.2

14.9 %

Total





688.7

623.6

10.4 %


1,211.3

1,097.5

10.4 %













Combined ratio1












Auto





92.7 %

88.4 %

4.3 pts


94.4 %

89.3 %

5.1 pts

Property





104.0 %

109.3 %

(5.3) pts


98.0 %

100.7 %

(2.7) pts

Total





96.9 %

95.9 %

1.0 pts


95.8 %

93.4 %

2.4 pts













Commercial insurance












Gross written premiums





296.0

251.0

17.9 %


515.9

435.8

18.4 %

Combined ratio1





92.5 %

88.9 %

3.6 pts


89.1 %

90.9 %

(1.8) pts

Personal Insurance

  • Overall, personal lines GWP increased 10.4% in the second quarter of 2022 (10.4% year to date). Sonnet GWP was $85.2 million in the second quarter of 2022, an increase of 13.0% compared to $75.4 million in the second quarter of 2021. Sonnet GWP was $149.7 million year to date, an increase of 17.0% compared to $127.9 million in 2021. Personal lines produced underwriting income of $18.0 million in the quarter compared to $21.2 million in the same quarter a year ago. Year to date, personal lines produced underwriting income of $48.7 million compared to $67.3 million in 2021.
  • Personal auto GWP increased 8.6% in the quarter (7.7% year to date), driven by improved retention, an increase in average written premiums, and the growth in Sonnet. In the second quarter of 2022, customer relief related to the COVID-19 pandemic, which ended in May 2022, resulted in a reduction in GWP of approximately $6 million (Q2 2021: $12 million). The combined ratio of 92.7% in the quarter (Q2 2021: 88.4%) increased due primarily to an increase in the core accident year claims ratio driven by higher claims frequency combined with inflationary cost pressures, a decrease in favourable prior year claims development, and an increase in catastrophe losses. Year to date, the personal auto combined ratio was impacted by the same factors as the second quarter.
  • Personal property GWP increased 13.4% in the quarter (14.9% year to date), benefitting from continued firm market conditions in our personal property business, higher renewed business, and the growth in Sonnet. The combined ratio was 104.0% in the quarter, an improvement from 109.3% in the same quarter a year ago which included approximately 11 percentage points for an inflation provision that negatively impacted current accident year claims and prior year claims development. Catastrophe losses accounted for 12.5 percentage points to the combined ratio in the second quarter of 2022 (including the windstorm in Ontario and Québec in May) compared to 6.5 percentage points in 2021. The increase in catastrophe losses partly offset the improvement in the core accident year claims ratio as earned rates remained above inflation cost trends, and higher favourable prior year claims development. Year to date, the personal property combined ratio decreased, driven by the same factors as the second quarter.

Commercial Insurance

  • Growth in commercial lines continued in the second quarter of 2022. GWP increased 17.9% in the quarter (18.4% year to date), as we benefitted from continued strong broker support, and higher retention levels and strong rate achievement in a firm market environment.
  • Commercial lines produced a combined ratio of 92.5% and underwriting income of $16.0 million in the quarter compared to 88.9% and underwriting income of $20.0 million in the same quarter a year ago. The decrease in underwriting income was due to the impact of catastrophe losses, driven by the windstorm in Ontario and Québec in May, and two large fire losses in the quarter. Catastrophe losses accounted for 6.9 percentage points to the combined ratio in the second quarter of 2022 compared to nil in 2021. The increase in catastrophe losses was partially offset by improved prior year claims development and a decrease in the core accident year claims ratio from our improved mix of business and achieving rate increases above cost inflation. The combined ratio in the second quarter of 2021 included approximately 8 percentage points for an inflation provision that negatively impacted current accident year claims and prior year claims development. Year to date, the commercial lines produced a combined ratio of 89.1% and underwriting income of $45.5 million compared to 90.9% and underwriting income of $31.9 million in 2021. The year-to-date commercial lines combined ratio improved due to a decrease in the core accident year claims ratio and higher favourable prior year claims development, partially offset by an increase in catastrophe losses.

1

This is a supplementary financial measure, non-GAAP financial measure, or a non-GAAP ratio. Refer to Supplementary financial measures and non-GAAP financial measures and ratios in this news release, and Section 11 – Supplementary financial measures and non-GAAP financial measures and ratios in the Q2-2022 Management's Discussion and Analysis dated August 2, 2022 for further details, which is available on the Company's website at www.definityfinancial.com and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Financial Position

(in millions of dollars, except as otherwise noted)





As at

 June 30,

2022

As at

December 31,

2021

Change













Financial position












Investments









4,915.5

5,365.8

(450.3)

Total equity









2,244.7

2,396.3

(151.6)

Consolidated excess capital at 200% MCT



621.7

137.6


  • Total equity decreased by $151.6 million since December 31, 2021 driven by market value declines in our bond portfolio due to a significant increase in fixed income yields, and the declines in equity markets. These were partially offset by strong underwriting income and increasing net investment income. Total equity increased $283.7 million since June 30, 2021 and our capital position remains strong, well in excess of both internal and regulatory minimum capital requirements as of June 30, 2022, with a consolidated excess capital position exceeding $620 million and an unlevered balance sheet.

Dividend

  • On August 2, 2022, the Board of Directors declared a $0.125 per share dividend, payable on September 28, 2022 to shareholders of record at the close of business on September 15, 2022.

Conference Call

Definity will conduct a conference call to review information included in this news release and related matters at 11:00 a.m. ET on August 3, 2022. The conference call will be available simultaneously and in its entirety to all interested investors and the news media at www.definityfinancial.com. A transcript will be made available on Definity's website within two business days.

About Definity Financial Corporation

Definity Financial Corporation ("Definity", which includes its subsidiaries where the context so requires) is one of the leading property and casualty insurers in Canada, with over $3.4 billion in gross written premiums for the 12 months ended June 30, 2022 and over $7.7 billion in assets as at June 30, 2022.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws in Canada. Forward-looking information may relate to our future business, financial outlook and anticipated events or results and may include information regarding our financial position, business strategy, growth strategies, addressable markets, budgets, operations, financial results, taxes, dividend policy, plans and objectives. Particularly, information regarding our expectations of future results, performance, achievements, prospects or opportunities or the markets in which we operate is forward-looking information. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "targets", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "an opportunity exists", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "projection", "prospects", "strategy", "intends", "anticipates", "does not anticipate", "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will", "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, intentions, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts but instead represent management's expectations, estimates and projections regarding possible future events or circumstances.

Forward-looking information in this news release is based on our opinions, estimates and assumptions in light of our experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that we currently believe are appropriate and reasonable in the circumstances. Despite a careful process to prepare and review the forward-looking information, there can be no assurance that the underlying opinions, estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of opinions, estimates and assumptions that we considered appropriate and reasonable as at the date such statements are made, and are subject to many factors that could cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events or developments, to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the following factors:

  • Definity's ability to appropriately price its insurance products to produce an acceptable return;
  • Definity's ability to accurately assess the risks associated with the insurance policies that it writes;
  • Definity's ability to assess and pay claims in accordance with its insurance policies;
  • litigation and regulatory actions, including potential claims in relation to demutualization and our IPO, and COVID-19-related class-action lawsuits that have arisen and which may arise, together with associated legal costs;
  • Definity's ability to obtain adequate reinsurance coverage to transfer risk;
  • Definity's ability to accurately predict future claims frequency or severity, including the frequency and severity of weather-related events and the impact of climate change;
  • Definity's ability to address inflationary cost pressures through pricing, supply chain, or cost management actions;
  • the occurrence of unpredictable catastrophe events;
  • unfavourable capital market developments, interest rate movements, changes to dividend policies or other factors which may affect our investments or the market price of our common shares;
  • changes associated with the transition to a low-carbon economy, including reputational and business implications from stakeholders' views of our climate change approach or that of our industry;
  • Definity's ability to successfully manage credit risk from its counterparties;
  • foreign currency fluctuations;
  • Definity's ability to meet payment obligations as they become due;
  • Definity's ability to maintain its financial strength rating or credit rating;
  • Definity's dependence on key employees;
  • Definity's ability to attract, develop, motivate, and retain an appropriate number of employees with the necessary skills, capabilities, and knowledge;
  • Definity's ability to appropriately manage and protect the collection and storage of information;
  • Definity's reliance on information technology systems, internet, network, data centre, voice or data communications services and the potential disruption or failure of those systems or services, including as a result of cyber security risk;
  • failure of key service providers or vendors to provide services or supplies as expected, or comply with contractual or business terms;
  • Definity's ability to obtain, maintain and protect its intellectual property rights and proprietary information or prevent third parties from making unauthorized use of our technology;
  • compliance with and changes in legislation or its interpretation or application, or supervisory expectations or requirements, including changes in effective income tax rates, risk-based capital guidelines, and accounting standards;
  • failure to design, implement and maintain effective control over financial reporting which could have a material adverse effect on our business;
  • deceptive or illegal acts undertaken by an employee or a third party, including fraud in the course of underwriting insurance or settling insurance claims;
  • Definity's ability to respond to events impacting its ability to conduct business as normal;
  • Definity's ability to implement its strategy or operate its business as management currently expects;
  • the impact of public-health crises, such as pandemics or other health risk events including the COVID-19 pandemic and their associated operational, economic, legislative and regulatory impacts, including impacts on Definity's ability to maintain operations and provide services to customers and on the expectations of governmental or regulatory authorities concerning the provision of customer relief;
  • general economic, financial, and political conditions, particularly those in Canada;
  • the competitive market environment and cyclical nature of the P&C insurance industry;
  • the introduction of disruptive innovation;
  • distribution channel risk, including Definity's reliance on independent brokers to sell its products;
  • Definity's dividend payments being subject to the discretion of the Board and dependent on a variety of factors and conditions existing from time to time;
  • there can be no assurance that Definity's normal course issuer bid will be maintained, unchanged and/or completed;
  • Definity's dependence on the results of operations of its subsidiaries and the ability of the subsidiaries to pay dividends;
  • Definity's ability to manage and access capital and liquidity effectively;
  • Definity's ability to successfully identify, complete, integrate and realize the benefits of acquisitions or manage the associated risks;
  • periodic negative publicity regarding the insurance industry or Definity; and
  • the completion and timing of Definity continuing under the Canada Business Corporations Act.

If any of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if the opinions, estimates or assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results or future events might vary materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information. The opinions, estimates or assumptions referred to above and described in greater detail in the "11 – Risk Management and Corporate Governance" section of the December 31, 2021 Management's Discussion and Analysis should be considered carefully by readers.

Although we have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, the factors above are not intended to represent a complete list and there may be other factors not currently known to us or that we currently believe are not material that could also cause actual results or future events to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking information. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information, which speaks only as at the date made. The forward-looking information contained in this news release represents our expectations as at the date of this news release (or as the date they are otherwise stated to be made) and are subject to change after such date. However, we disclaim any intention or obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities laws in Canada.

All of the forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by the foregoing cautionary statements.

Supplementary Financial Measures and Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Ratios

We measure and evaluate performance of our business using a number of financial measures. Among these measures are the "supplementary financial measures", "non-GAAP financial measures", and "non-GAAP ratios" (as such terms are defined under Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 52-112 – Non-GAAP and Other Financial Measures Disclosure), and in each case are not standardized financial measures under GAAP. The supplementary financial measures, non-GAAP financial measures, and non-GAAP ratios in this news release may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. These measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our financial information reported under GAAP. These measures are used by financial analysts and others in the P&C insurance industry and facilitate management's comparisons to our historical operating results in assessing our results and strategic and operational decision-making. For more information about these supplementary financial measures, non-GAAP financial measures, and non-GAAP ratios, including (where applicable) definitions and explanations of how these measures provide useful information, refer to Section 11 – Supplementary financial measures and non-GAAP financial measures and ratios in the Q2-2022 Management's Discussion and Analysis dated August 2, 2022, which is available on our website at www.definityfinancial.com and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Net income is the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure disclosed in our consolidated financial statements to operating net income, operating income, and non-operating gains (losses), which are considered non-GAAP financial measures. Below is a quantitative reconciliation of operating net income, operating income, and non-operating (losses) gains to net income for the three months and six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021:

(in millions of dollars)


Q2 2022

Q2 2021


 2022 YTD

2021 YTD

Net income


21.0

43.9


69.3

126.3

Remove: income tax expense


(3.8)

(12.8)


(18.3)

(40.3)

Income before income taxes


24.8

56.7


87.6

166.6








Remove: non-operating gains (losses)







    Recognized (losses) gains on investments







        Realized (losses) gains on sale of AFS investments


(16.0)

1.1


(26.5)

44.2

        Net (losses) gains on FVTPL investments


(62.2)

3.9


(154.0)

(48.6)

      Impairment losses on AFS investments


(19.3)

-


(19.3)

-

    Impact of discounting


61.3

(10.1)


144.3

33.3

    Demutualization and IPO-related expenses1


(0.4)

(5.2)


(2.3)

(8.7)

    Amortization of intangible assets recognized in business

     combinations1


(0.7)

(1.1)


(1.3)

(2.1)

    Other1,2


(0.5)

(0.4)


(0.8)

(0.4)

Non-operating (losses) gains


(37.8)

(11.8)


(59.9)

17.7

Operating income


62.6

68.5


147.5

148.9

Operating income tax expense


(13.8)

(15.9)


(34.1)

(35.7)

Operating net income


48.8

52.6


113.4

113.2



1

Included in Other (expenses) income in our consolidated financial statements.

2

Other represents foreign currency translation of an insurtech venture capital fund and a number of other expenses or revenues that in the view of management are not part of

our insurance operations and are individually and in the aggregate not material.

The following table shows the components of our calculation of ROE, a non-GAAP ratio, for the periods ended June 30:













For the 12 months ended

June 30,

(in millions of dollars, except as otherwise noted)












2022

2021

 Net income









156.3

238.5

Total equity1









2,244.7

1,961.0

Adjustment for Over-Allotment option and Anti-Dilution Adjustment2









(101.2)

-

Adjusted total equity









2,143.5

1,961.0

Average adjusted total equity3









2,052.2

1,801.8

ROE









7.6 %

13.2 %
























1

Total equity is as at June 30, 2022 and 2021.

2

Over-Allotment option and Anti-Dilution Adjustment were prorated for the 145 days prior to the IPO date of November 23, 2021.

3

Average adjusted total equity is the average of adjusted total equity (total equity as shown on our consolidated balance sheet, adjusted for significant capital transactions, if

applicable) at the end of the period and the end of the preceding 12-month period. Total equity and adjusted total equity as at June 30, 2020 was $1,642.6 million.

The following table shows the components of our calculation of operating ROE, a non-GAAP ratio, for the periods ended June 30:













For the 12 months ended

June 30,

(in millions of dollars, except as otherwise noted)












2022

2021

Operating net income1






220.6

237.9

Total equity, excluding AOCI2






2,331.7

1,882.2

Adjustment for Over-Allotment option and Anti-Dilution Adjustment3






(101.2)

-

Adjusted total equity, excluding AOCI






2,230.5

1,882.2

Average adjusted total equity, excluding AOCI4






2,056.4

1,766.2

Operating ROE






10.7 %

13.5 %



1

Operating net income is a non-GAAP financial measure.

2

Total equity, excluding accumulated other comprehensive income ("AOCI") is as at June 30, 2022 and 2021.

3

Over-Allotment option and Anti-Dilution Adjustment were prorated for the 145 days prior to the IPO date of November 23, 2021.

4

Average adjusted total equity, excluding AOCI is the average of adjusted total equity, excluding AOCI (total equity and AOCI each as shown on our consolidated balance sheet,

adjusted for significant capital transactions, if applicable) at the end of the period and the end of the preceding 12-month period. Total equity, excluding AOCI, and adjusted total

equity, excluding AOCI, as at June 30, 2020 was $1,650.2 million.

 

SOURCE Definity Financial Corporation

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The Coming Of The Police State In America

The Coming Of The Police State In America

Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,

The National Guard and the State Police are now…

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on

The Coming Of The Police State In America

Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,

The National Guard and the State Police are now patrolling the New York City subway system in an attempt to do something about the explosion of crime. As part of this, there are bag checks and new surveillance of all passengers. No legislation, no debate, just an edict from the mayor.

Many citizens who rely on this system for transportation might welcome this. It’s a city of strict gun control, and no one knows for sure if they have the right to defend themselves. Merchants have been harassed and even arrested for trying to stop looting and pillaging in their own shops.

The message has been sent: Only the police can do this job. Whether they do it or not is another matter.

Things on the subway system have gotten crazy. If you know it well, you can manage to travel safely, but visitors to the city who take the wrong train at the wrong time are taking grave risks.

In actual fact, it’s guaranteed that this will only end in confiscating knives and other things that people carry in order to protect themselves while leaving the actual criminals even more free to prey on citizens.

The law-abiding will suffer and the criminals will grow more numerous. It will not end well.

When you step back from the details, what we have is the dawning of a genuine police state in the United States. It only starts in New York City. Where is the Guard going to be deployed next? Anywhere is possible.

If the crime is bad enough, citizens will welcome it. It must have been this way in most times and places that when the police state arrives, the people cheer.

We will all have our own stories of how this came to be. Some might begin with the passage of the Patriot Act and the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security in 2001. Some will focus on gun control and the taking away of citizens’ rights to defend themselves.

My own version of events is closer in time. It began four years ago this month with lockdowns. That’s what shattered the capacity of civil society to function in the United States. Everything that has happened since follows like one domino tumbling after another.

It goes like this:

1) lockdown,

2) loss of moral compass and spreading of loneliness and nihilism,

3) rioting resulting from citizen frustration, 4) police absent because of ideological hectoring,

5) a rise in uncontrolled immigration/refugees,

6) an epidemic of ill health from substance abuse and otherwise,

7) businesses flee the city

8) cities fall into decay, and that results in

9) more surveillance and police state.

The 10th stage is the sacking of liberty and civilization itself.

It doesn’t fall out this way at every point in history, but this seems like a solid outline of what happened in this case. Four years is a very short period of time to see all of this unfold. But it is a fact that New York City was more-or-less civilized only four years ago. No one could have predicted that it would come to this so quickly.

But once the lockdowns happened, all bets were off. Here we had a policy that most directly trampled on all freedoms that we had taken for granted. Schools, businesses, and churches were slammed shut, with various levels of enforcement. The entire workforce was divided between essential and nonessential, and there was widespread confusion about who precisely was in charge of designating and enforcing this.

It felt like martial law at the time, as if all normal civilian law had been displaced by something else. That something had to do with public health, but there was clearly more going on, because suddenly our social media posts were censored and we were being asked to do things that made no sense, such as mask up for a virus that evaded mask protection and walk in only one direction in grocery aisles.

Vast amounts of the white-collar workforce stayed home—and their kids, too—until it became too much to bear. The city became a ghost town. Most U.S. cities were the same.

As the months of disaster rolled on, the captives were let out of their houses for the summer in order to protest racism but no other reason. As a way of excusing this, the same public health authorities said that racism was a virus as bad as COVID-19, so therefore it was permitted.

The protests had turned to riots in many cities, and the police were being defunded and discouraged to do anything about the problem. Citizens watched in horror as downtowns burned and drug-crazed freaks took over whole sections of cities. It was like every standard of decency had been zapped out of an entire swath of the population.

Meanwhile, large checks were arriving in people’s bank accounts, defying every normal economic expectation. How could people not be working and get their bank accounts more flush with cash than ever? There was a new law that didn’t even require that people pay rent. How weird was that? Even student loans didn’t need to be paid.

By the fall, recess from lockdown was over and everyone was told to go home again. But this time they had a job to do: They were supposed to vote. Not at the polling places, because going there would only spread germs, or so the media said. When the voting results finally came in, it was the absentee ballots that swung the election in favor of the opposition party that actually wanted more lockdowns and eventually pushed vaccine mandates on the whole population.

The new party in control took note of the large population movements out of cities and states that they controlled. This would have a large effect on voting patterns in the future. But they had a plan. They would open the borders to millions of people in the guise of caring for refugees. These new warm bodies would become voters in time and certainly count on the census when it came time to reapportion political power.

Meanwhile, the native population had begun to swim in ill health from substance abuse, widespread depression, and demoralization, plus vaccine injury. This increased dependency on the very institutions that had caused the problem in the first place: the medical/scientific establishment.

The rise of crime drove the small businesses out of the city. They had barely survived the lockdowns, but they certainly could not survive the crime epidemic. This undermined the tax base of the city and allowed the criminals to take further control.

The same cities became sanctuaries for the waves of migrants sacking the country, and partisan mayors actually used tax dollars to house these invaders in high-end hotels in the name of having compassion for the stranger. Citizens were pushed out to make way for rampaging migrant hordes, as incredible as this seems.

But with that, of course, crime rose ever further, inciting citizen anger and providing a pretext to bring in the police state in the form of the National Guard, now tasked with cracking down on crime in the transportation system.

What’s the next step? It’s probably already here: mass surveillance and censorship, plus ever-expanding police power. This will be accompanied by further population movements, as those with the means to do so flee the city and even the country and leave it for everyone else to suffer.

As I tell the story, all of this seems inevitable. It is not. It could have been stopped at any point. A wise and prudent political leadership could have admitted the error from the beginning and called on the country to rediscover freedom, decency, and the difference between right and wrong. But ego and pride stopped that from happening, and we are left with the consequences.

The government grows ever bigger and civil society ever less capable of managing itself in large urban centers. Disaster is unfolding in real time, mitigated only by a rising stock market and a financial system that has yet to fall apart completely.

Are we at the middle stages of total collapse, or at the point where the population and people in leadership positions wise up and decide to put an end to the downward slide? It’s hard to know. But this much we do know: There is a growing pocket of resistance out there that is fed up and refuses to sit by and watch this great country be sacked and taken over by everything it was set up to prevent.

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/09/2024 - 16:20

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Low Iron Levels In Blood Could Trigger Long COVID: Study

Low Iron Levels In Blood Could Trigger Long COVID: Study

Authored by Amie Dahnke via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

People with inadequate…

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Low Iron Levels In Blood Could Trigger Long COVID: Study

Authored by Amie Dahnke via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

People with inadequate iron levels in their blood due to a COVID-19 infection could be at greater risk of long COVID.

(Shutterstock)

A new study indicates that problems with iron levels in the bloodstream likely trigger chronic inflammation and other conditions associated with the post-COVID phenomenon. The findings, published on March 1 in Nature Immunology, could offer new ways to treat or prevent the condition.

Long COVID Patients Have Low Iron Levels

Researchers at the University of Cambridge pinpointed low iron as a potential link to long-COVID symptoms thanks to a study they initiated shortly after the start of the pandemic. They recruited people who tested positive for the virus to provide blood samples for analysis over a year, which allowed the researchers to look for post-infection changes in the blood. The researchers looked at 214 samples and found that 45 percent of patients reported symptoms of long COVID that lasted between three and 10 months.

In analyzing the blood samples, the research team noticed that people experiencing long COVID had low iron levels, contributing to anemia and low red blood cell production, just two weeks after they were diagnosed with COVID-19. This was true for patients regardless of age, sex, or the initial severity of their infection.

According to one of the study co-authors, the removal of iron from the bloodstream is a natural process and defense mechanism of the body.

But it can jeopardize a person’s recovery.

When the body has an infection, it responds by removing iron from the bloodstream. This protects us from potentially lethal bacteria that capture the iron in the bloodstream and grow rapidly. It’s an evolutionary response that redistributes iron in the body, and the blood plasma becomes an iron desert,” University of Oxford professor Hal Drakesmith said in a press release. “However, if this goes on for a long time, there is less iron for red blood cells, so oxygen is transported less efficiently affecting metabolism and energy production, and for white blood cells, which need iron to work properly. The protective mechanism ends up becoming a problem.”

The research team believes that consistently low iron levels could explain why individuals with long COVID continue to experience fatigue and difficulty exercising. As such, the researchers suggested iron supplementation to help regulate and prevent the often debilitating symptoms associated with long COVID.

It isn’t necessarily the case that individuals don’t have enough iron in their body, it’s just that it’s trapped in the wrong place,” Aimee Hanson, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge who worked on the study, said in the press release. “What we need is a way to remobilize the iron and pull it back into the bloodstream, where it becomes more useful to the red blood cells.”

The research team pointed out that iron supplementation isn’t always straightforward. Achieving the right level of iron varies from person to person. Too much iron can cause stomach issues, ranging from constipation, nausea, and abdominal pain to gastritis and gastric lesions.

1 in 5 Still Affected by Long COVID

COVID-19 has affected nearly 40 percent of Americans, with one in five of those still suffering from symptoms of long COVID, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Long COVID is marked by health issues that continue at least four weeks after an individual was initially diagnosed with COVID-19. Symptoms can last for days, weeks, months, or years and may include fatigue, cough or chest pain, headache, brain fog, depression or anxiety, digestive issues, and joint or muscle pain.

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/09/2024 - 12:50

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February Employment Situation

By Paul Gomme and Peter Rupert The establishment data from the BLS showed a 275,000 increase in payroll employment for February, outpacing the 230,000…

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By Paul Gomme and Peter Rupert

The establishment data from the BLS showed a 275,000 increase in payroll employment for February, outpacing the 230,000 average over the previous 12 months. The payroll data for January and December were revised down by a total of 167,000. The private sector added 223,000 new jobs, the largest gain since May of last year.

Temporary help services employment continues a steep decline after a sharp post-pandemic rise.

Average hours of work increased from 34.2 to 34.3. The increase, along with the 223,000 private employment increase led to a hefty increase in total hours of 5.6% at an annualized rate, also the largest increase since May of last year.

The establishment report, once again, beat “expectations;” the WSJ survey of economists was 198,000. Other than the downward revisions, mentioned above, another bit of negative news was a smallish increase in wage growth, from $34.52 to $34.57.

The household survey shows that the labor force increased 150,000, a drop in employment of 184,000 and an increase in the number of unemployed persons of 334,000. The labor force participation rate held steady at 62.5, the employment to population ratio decreased from 60.2 to 60.1 and the unemployment rate increased from 3.66 to 3.86. Remember that the unemployment rate is the number of unemployed relative to the labor force (the number employed plus the number unemployed). Consequently, the unemployment rate can go up if the number of unemployed rises holding fixed the labor force, or if the labor force shrinks holding the number unemployed unchanged. An increase in the unemployment rate is not necessarily a bad thing: it may reflect a strong labor market drawing “marginally attached” individuals from outside the labor force. Indeed, there was a 96,000 decline in those workers.

Earlier in the week, the BLS announced JOLTS (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey) data for January. There isn’t much to report here as the job openings changed little at 8.9 million, the number of hires and total separations were little changed at 5.7 million and 5.3 million, respectively.

As has been the case for the last couple of years, the number of job openings remains higher than the number of unemployed persons.

Also earlier in the week the BLS announced that productivity increased 3.2% in the 4th quarter with output rising 3.5% and hours of work rising 0.3%.

The bottom line is that the labor market continues its surprisingly (to some) strong performance, once again proving stronger than many had expected. This strength makes it difficult to justify any interest rate cuts soon, particularly given the recent inflation spike.

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