The Midland Co. on Monday pulled back on plans to sell some of its stock, saying the weak market would make the offering unattractive.

        The Amelia-based specialty insurer is withdrawing a plan tied to a secondary offering of common stock. The proposed offering of 2.45 million shares, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 17, had a value of about $50 million at the time.

        Midland hoped to raise cash to fund growth, repay debt or for general corporate purposes.

        But John Von Lehman, Midland's chief financial officer, said falling stock prices in recent weeks would have made the offer unattractive. Midland's stock was trading at $23.65 on July 17 and fetched as high as $25 a share two weeks before that.

        But a week or so after Midland's filing, the stock market had a major decline — with insurance stocks hard hit.

        “Our stock has been trading at 15 percent to 20 percent below the $23.65 on the filing date, so this would not be a good time for us to forward with the offering,” he said.

        Midland's stock closed Monday at $19.25, down 45 cents.

        He said Midland would reconsider the stock offering if market conditions were right for the company.

        Midland also said its third-quarter results could be negatively affected by higher-than expected losses. The company said those could include flood losses in Texas and higher fire loss ratios in its manufactured-housing business.

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