Major catastrophes, including two California wildfires, are to blame, in part, for The Hartford’s 2 percent third quarter profit decline.
The property and casualty insurer saw its third quarter profits fall 2 percent to $381 million, compared to $388 million a year earlier, driven by a large $54 million loss in its commercial business.
Third quarter net income included a $60 million income tax benefit in corporate, although that was offset by net realized capital losses of $30 million, after-tax and deferred acquisition costs, compared with net realized capital gains of $27 million.
“While The Hartford delivered strong underlying performance in Commercial Lines and Group Benefits, our results this quarter reflect headwinds in several areas, resulting in a decrease in core earnings,” said The Hartford’s chairman and CEO Christopher Swift in a statement. “Lower net investment income, adverse prior year development in Commercial Lines and higher catastrophes and loss costs in Personal Lines were the primary contributors to the decrease.”
Net income per diluted share was 90 cents per share, an increase of 5 percent compared with net income of 86 cents per diluted share. The 2 increase decrease in net income was offset by the benefit of the company’s equity repurchase program on net income per diluted share, The Hartford reported.
Despite the profit loss, the company’s earnings per diluted share were actually up 5 percent to 90 cents per share, due to an equity repurchase program, The Hartford reported.
