Mercury General CEO To Step Down

Los Angeles-based Mercury General Corp. announced that George Joseph, CEO and chairman of the board, will resign as CEO effective Jan. 1, 2007. The Board of Directors has appointed Gabriel Tirador to serve as president and CEO at that time. Tirador has served
as president and chief operating officer since October 2001. Joseph
will remain as chairman.

Additionally, the company reported third quarter net income of $68.2 million ($1.25 per share- diluted) compared with $73 million ($1.33 per share-diluted) for the same period in 2005. Company-wide net premiums written were $776.2 million in the third quarter 2006, a 1.7 percent increase over third quarter 2005 net premiums written
of $762.9 million, and were approximately $2.3 billion for the first nine
months of 2006, a 3.7 percent increase over the same period in 2005. The company’s combined ratio (GAAP basis) was 93 percent in the third quarter and 94.5 percent for the first nine months of 2006, compared with 90.8 percent and 91.2 percent for the same periods in 2005.

For more information about the company’s third-quarter results, visit http://www.mercuryinsurance.com.