The Hartford Financial Services Group today reported a $15 million net loss in the second quarter, largely due to investment losses and shrinking premiums.
The 6 cents per share loss in the period ending June 30, compared to a net profit of $543 million, or $1.73 per share, in the year ago period.
The company also lowered its guidance for the rest of the year and currently expects 2009 core earnings per diluted share to be between $0.00 and $0.20, compared to a previous estimate of $0.05 and $0.45.
Despite the losses, however, Ramani Ayer, chairman and chief executive officer of The Hartford, said the company is seeing “important indicators that demonstrate that we are on the right track.”
“During the second quarter, The Hartford announced a number of strategic actions to set the company on the right path to deliver value to our shareholders, partners, customers and distributors,” said Ayer, who is set to retire from the company by the end of the year. “Our focus now is to leverage our strengths to serve households, businesses and employees by helping to protect their assets and income from risks, and by managing wealth and retirement needs.”
Net income from ongoing property and casualty operations was $222 million for the second quarter of 2009, compared to $246 million in the year ago period. The decline was primarily driven by lower net investment income, the company said.
Meanwhile, Hartford Life reported a net income of $176 million in the second quarter of 2009, compared with net income of $334 million in the year-ago period.
Life operations assets under management shrunk 17 percent to $301.7 billion largely due to equity market declines over the last 12 months, the company said.
“During the quarter, we took the first of a series of significant steps to realign our life businesses with our go-forward strategy and we are aggressively continuing down this path,” Ayer added.
