Argo to place grocery and retail lines into runoff

Argo Group International Holdings will exit the grocery and retail lines of business, which include providing general liability and self-insured retention risk management programmes for grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants and other retail businesses.

Argo will put the grocery and retail lines into run-off immediately, resulting in a staffing reduction of approximately 20 positions from Argo Insurance and its dedicated claims team. Some of these team members will be moved into other positions while others will assist with the run-off operations, Argo said.

Gary Grose, US operations executive vice president, said the move was intended to simplify the business, reduce expenses and streamline operations.

“This is in line with the plan we announced to investors last year, which also emphasised our efforts to continue investing in lines of business with the most opportunity for significant profitability,” he added.