Hartford Q3 Profit Rises - Update

(RTTNews) - Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (HIG) on Monday reported an increase in profit for the third quarter, thanks mainly to some strong performance at its core property and casualty business.

Hartford has been weaning itself from non-core businesses in order to focus on property and casualty, group benefits and mutual fund businesses. In April, Hartford agreed to sell its Japanese operations to Orix Corp. for about $895 million. The company sold its individual life insurance business to Prudential Financial Inc. in 2012. The company also sold its UK variable annuity unit to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

The company said the "increase in core earnings was principally due to improved property and casualty underwriting results and higher income from limited partnerships and other alternative investments."

The Hartford, Connecticut-based company's third-quarter profit rose to $388 million or $0.86 per share from $293 million or $0.60 per share last year.

Excluding special items, core earnings for the quarter rose to $477 million or $1.06 per share from $416 million or $0.85 per share last year.

On average, 18 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.83 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Last-year results included a $72 million after-tax loss from discontinued operations associated largely with Hartford's former Japan annuity business.

Core earnings at the Property and Casualty business for the quarter rose 34 percent from last year to $353 million. Combined ratio at the segment, the percentage of premiums the insurer pays out in claims and expense, improved 4.8 percentage points to 91.4 percent from last year. A figure over 100 indicates that underwriting was unprofitable. Written premiums rose 2 percent to $2.6 billion from a year ago.

Core earnings at Group Benefits segment climbed 6 percent to $38 million from $36 million a year ago. Mutual funds core earnings rose 22 percent to $22 million from $18 million last year. Talcott Resolution core earnings were $122 million, a 6 percent growth from last year.

Revenues for the third quarter dropped to $4.77 billion from $4.86 billion a year ago. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $4.68 billion for the quarter.

HIG closed Monday's trading at $37.69, up $0.14 or 0.37%, on the NYSE. The stock further gained $0.31 or 0.82% in the after-hours trade.