Conseco Inc. this morning
reported a lower-than-expected profit of $24.5 million, or 13 cents per share,
in the first quarter. That compares with a loss of $7.2 million, or 4 cents per
share, in the same period a year ago.
The quarterly profit was the
first for the company since the fourth quarter of 2006.
Excluding
investment losses, Conseco earned 17 cents per share, compared with earnings of
11 cents per share in the same period a year ago.
On
that basis, analysts polled by Thomson
Reuters had expected the Carmel-based insurer to earn 20 cents a share in the
latest quarter.
Conseco’s quarterly revenue rose slightly, from $1.03 billion a year ago to
$1.07 billion this year.
The company’s net operating income rose to $31.4 million in the quarter, up 56
percent over the same period of 2008.
“We are pleased to report operating earnings of 17 cents per share,”
Conseco CEO Jim Prieur said in a prepared statement.
improvement and profitability in all three insurance businesses for the first
quarter, which is a seasonally low quarter for our earnings.”
Conseco
spent $9.5 million in the quarter to renegotiate $912 million in bank loans to
give it more breathing room under the terms of those loans.
exchange, the company agreed to a hike in the cash interest rate on the loans from
2.6 percent to 6.5 percent, and a payment equal to 1
percent of the principal balance tacked on when the loans mature.
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