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Empresas y finanzas

Allstate Q2 disaster losses total $2.3 billion


    NEW YORK (Reuters) - Allstate Corp suffered catastrophe losses of $2.3 billion in the second quarter, its worst disaster hit in six years, the largest publicly traded U.S. home and auto insurer said on Wednesday.

    Allstate began releasing monthly catastrophe losses in April after analysts pressed it for more disclosure on its disaster results. The company suffered losses of $1.4 billion in April, $600 million in May and $300 million in June.

    Taken together, those pretax losses are the worst since the third quarter of 2005, when Hurricane Katrina struck. They also exceed Allstate's catastrophe losses for all of 2010.

    Like most property insurers, Allstate has been hurt by severe thunderstorms that struck in April and May, as well as droughts, forest fires and floods.

    For the industry as a whole, severe weather events in just one week in late May result in insured losses of $4 billion to $7 billion, according to risk modeling agency AIR Worldwide.

    The two major U.S. tornado outbreaks in May and April were the costliest in history, the agency has said.

    Allstate shares opened 23 cents higher at $30.21. The shares fell 3.9 percent during the second quarter, outperforming the broader S&P insurance index despite the catastrophe losses.

    (Reporting by Ben Berkowitz, additional reporting by Aditi Sharma in Bangalore; editing by John Wallace)