Lancer Insurance Co. has been named to Ward’s Top 50 performing companies in the U.S. property casualty insurance industry for the third consecutive year.

Lancer provides commercial automobile coverage to U.S. transportation companies, including school bus operators.

The award for the 2012 calendar year’s performance (covering 2008-12) joins Lancer’s 2011 and 2010 awards recognizing the company's performance for the 2007-11 and 2006-10 periods, respectively.

In making the announcement, Ward Group Partner Jeff Rieder noted that the 50 companies selected, which include Chubb Group, Progressive Insurance Group, USAA Group and the Travelers Insurance Group, distinguished themselves from the more than 3,000 companies analyzed by collectively demonstrating the ability to thrive in challenging economic times.

The companies selected for the honor represent slightly over 1% of all companies analyzed by the Ward Group, which is a provider of benchmarking and best practices research studies for insurance companies. The firm analyzes staff levels, business practices and expenses for all areas of insurance company operations to help companies measure results and optimize performance.

“In selecting the Ward’s 50, we identify companies that pass financial stability requirements and measure their ability to grow while maintaining strong capital positions and underwriting results over a five-year period,” Rieder said.

Companies are measured and ranked in performance based on their five-year averages of the following metrics: return on average equity; return on average assets; return on total revenue; growth in net premium written; improvement in leverage ratio; and combined ratio.

Lancer President Dave Delaney said he was most pleased that Ward recognized Lancer for achieving outstanding financial results in the areas of safety, consistency and performance over a five-year period (2008-12) that presented unprecedented business challenges. He credited Lancer’s management and staff for achieving the Ward’s Top 50 benchmark to stay profitable and strengthen surplus at a greater rate than the overall property casualty insurance industry.

“At Lancer, we always strive to aggressively manage our policyholders’ claims and our operating expenses," Delaney said. "We also maintain a strong underwriting discipline regardless of market conditions. This serves to keep our prices stable, which benefits our policyholders and their agents.”