The Hartford Financial Services Group announced Wednesday that it expects its second quarter earnings to shrink by 68 percent as higher than expected catastrophe costs and losses related to the sale of a bank hit the company’s bottom line.
The property and casualty and life insurer said in a preliminary report that it expects net income for the quarter ended June 30 to be $24 million, or 3 cents per share, compared to $76 million, or 14 cents a share a year earlier.
Hartford Financial CEO Liam E. McGee said the results were affected by “severe U.S. catastrophe activity and other items unrelated to the fundamental performance of the underlying business.”
McGee said the company experienced losses from 12 storms that totaled $447 million, with about 60 of those losses coming from the consumer markets segment.
The company also took a $74Â million after-tax charge related to it’s previously announced sale of Federal Trust Corp., a Florida-based bank the company originally purchased in 2008 so it could qualify for a federal bailout.
