PORTLAND, ME, August 25, 2003 – Maine Employers' Mutual Insurance Company (MEMIC) has been named among the nation's top 50 insurance companies by one of the insurance industry's most respected organizations.

In its August 25 issue Business Insurance magazine announced that a recently-completed analysis by the Ward Group, a Cincinnati-based management consulting firm, placed MEMIC in its Ward 50, a listing of the top property/casualty insurance companies in the United States. The Ward Group (www.wardinc.com) annually recognizes companies that have excelled among their peers. Ward analyzes 2,700 property/casualty insurance companies, making the Ward 50 among the top 2 percent of property/casualty writers. This is the second consecutive year that MEMIC made the grouping.

"We are thrilled and humbled to have achieved recognition in this group in this group once again this year," said MEMIC President and CEO John T. Leonard. "The Ward 50 is a highly-respected benchmark within our industry. In an uncertain insurance market, this should provide our policyholders with further evidence that they are insured by a reliable, high-performing company."

"We continue to set our goal to be the best performing insurance company in the country. This shows us that we're among an elite group and affirms that we're on the right path."

Ward's 50 Benchmark Group analyzes an insurance company's performance over a five-year period (from 1998 to 2002) for balancing stability, consistency and financial performance. The balancing of these values is key to the overall success of an insurance company.

"MEMIC is a regional carrier that has performed well over the past five years," said John Ward, president of the Ward Group. "Strong underwriting results and excellent expense management have contributed to the company's excellent performance."

MEMIC, rated A (Excellent) by A.M. Best, is a workers' compensation insurance company, based in Portland, Maine with a subsidiary, MEMIC Indemnity Company (A- Excellent), based in Manchester, New Hampshire. Combined, MEMIC insures more than 21,000 employers and their estimated 250,000 employees in Northern New England. The company focuses on workplace safety through education and training. MEMIC is renowned throughout the country for its high-quality safety training programs, offered free to its policyholders.