American International Group, the insurer bailed out by the US government, reported its sixth consecutive quarterly loss last night, hurt once more by investment losses and writedowns.
AIG had a first-quarter loss of $4.35 billion, equal to about $1.98 per share, according to a company statement issued after US markets closed.
The result was lower than the loss of $7.81 billion, in the same period a year ago. AIG reported a $61.7 billion loss in the fourth quarter, the largest quarterly loss in corporate history.
Unlike AIG's other quarterly results announcement since its federal rescue last September, the first-quarter announcement did not include a new iteration of its bailout plan.
Overall, the government has stepped forward three times to help the insurer, committing some $180 billion in its efforts to rescue AIG. The aid includes some $85 billion in loans that the insurer is trying to repay through divestitures.
So far, AIG has reached deals for a dozen businesses, raising more than $4 billion.
AIG's quarterly loss included $1.2 billion of costs related to AIG's wind-down of a controversial financial products unit, almost $1 billion of interest and costs related to a credit line from the Federal Reserve, and investment losses or writedowns of $1.6 billion.
On an adjusted basis, AIG posted a first-quarter loss of $1.6 billion, or 97 cents a share. Analysts on average expected AIG to report an adjusted loss of 6 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.
The adjusted figure excludes net realized capital losses and FAS 133 losses. FAS 133 relates to accounting for derivative instruments and hedging activities.
On the same basis, AIG lost $3.56 billion, or $1.41 a share, in the year-ago period.
AIG, once the world's largest insurer, said its global general insurance business wrote $10 billion in net premiums during the quarter, a 17.5 per cent decline.
Premiums and other considerations also fell for its life insurance and retirement services division by about 10.5 per cent to $8.3 billion.
The insurer, which operates in 130 countries around the world, is trying to line up some of these businesses for sale, potentially through initial public offerings.
The company said yesterday it also plans to combine its US life insurance and retirement services businesses, and re-brand the division to differentiate it from AIG, the parent company.
Reuters