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Hartford quarterly loss deepens on life unit sale, tax charge

Posted On: Feb. 9, 2018 12:30 PM CST

Hartford quarterly loss deepens on life unit sale, tax charge

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. on Friday reported a 2017 fourth-quarter net loss of $3.7 billion, a dramatic increase from a net loss of $81 million a year ago, due to losses from discontinued operations and a charge related to the reduced U.S. corporate tax rate.

The insurer said the loss resulted from a $3.1 billion loss on discontinued operations related to the agreement to sell the company's life and annuity runoff business, Talcott Resolution, which Hartford announced in December, and an $877 million charge due to the reduction in the U.S. corporate tax rate that was effective Jan. 1

Fourth-quarter 2017 revenue totaled $4.5 billion compared with $3.9 billion a year ago.

Core earnings for the quarter were $293 million, Hartford said in a statement, essentially flat compared with $294 million a year ago. During a Friday morning conference call with analysts, Chairman and CEO Christopher Swift said core earnings were up 11% despite exceptionally heavy catastrophe losses.

Mr. Swift also noted that Hartford had announced in October that it would buy Aetna Inc.’s U.S. group life and disability business for $1.45 billion cash.

Commercial lines written premiums totaled $1.7 billion, a 4% increase compared with a year ago.

“This is an outstanding result,” Mr. Swift said, “reflecting the strength of the organization.”

The fourth-quarter commercial lines combined ratio was 89.9%, compared with 91.3% a year ago.

Full year consolidate earnings totaled $1.01 billion, compared with $912 million in 2016. Total revenue for the year was $16.9 billion compared with $16.1 billion the previous year.

The full-year combined ratio for commercial lines was 97.3%, compared with 92.8% in 2016.