A.M. Best has affirmed the financial strength rating of A (Excellent) and the issuer credit ratings of “a” of Queen City Assurance and Vine Court Assurance, both domiciled in Vermont.
The ratings are based on Queen City Assurance and Vine Court Assurance individual and combined profiles as single parent captives of The Kroger Co. (parent).
Return measures on a group and individual basis are consistently on positive levels reflective of the organisation’s prudent pricing and deployment of capital, said the firm.
These significant strengths are partially offset by the companies' risk concentration, which are the result of being single parent captives of the parent company, coupled with a substantial aggregate limit retained by the captives.
Key rating triggers that could result in a downgrading of the ratings include a precipitous decline in the companies’ risk-adjusted capital strength. Key rating triggers that could result in an upgrading of the ratings include a consistently profitable operating performance coupled with a substantial increase in risk-adjusted capitalisation.
Either a rating enhancement or a deterioration in the capitalisation of the parent could result in either an upgrading or a downgrading of the single parent captives’ ratings.
