Three Companies, Three Different 1Q Income Results

<p> By Cyril Tuohy</p> <p> <a href="http://www.insurancenewsnet.com/">InsuranceNewsNet</a></p> <p> Voya Financial reported first quarter 2015 net income of $186 million, a 28 percent drop from the year-ago period, due to after-tax losses of $71 million.</p> <p> The company announced an after-tax loss of $22 million in connection with its Closed Block Variable Annuity, and another $71 million in after-tax losses connected to hedging and expenses related to the spinoff and restructuring of Voya from ING Group.</p> <p> The company also reported first quarter after-tax operating earnings of $197 million, or $0.82 cents per diluted share, compared with $150 million, or $0.57 cents per diluted share reported in the year-ago period.</p> <p> After-tax operating earnings easily beat Zacks Investment Research analysts’ estimates of $0.75 cents per share.</p> <p> Higher after-tax operating earnings were due to retirement, annuities, individual life and employee benefits business segments, the company said. Revenue from those segments rose 21 percent to $324 million in the first quarter.</p> <p> Chairman and CEO Rod Martin, in a conference with analysts this week, said the company had reached important milestones over the past several months.</p> <p> Included in those milestones was the exit of ING Group two years earlier than planned, ratings agency upgrades, a rebranding campaign and the hiring of Charlie Nelson as the company’s new CEO of the retirement segment.</p> <p> <strong>Prudential</strong></p> <p> Prudential, which ended the year on a sour note in the wake of interest rate declines, reported first quarter net income of $2.03 billion, a 64 percent increase compared with the year-ago period.</p> <p> The company also said its revenue had increased nearly 8 percent to $11.8 billion.</p> <p> After-tax adjusted operating income of $2.79 per share diluted was in-line with estimates from Zacks Investment Research, the company also reported.</p> <p> Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld said the results reflected “a strong start for the year.”</p> <p> The company’s annuities, retirement and asset management businesses are benefiting from the growth in account values and assets under management, he said in a news release.</p> <p> Prudential’s individual and group life segment reported first quarter operating income of $146 million compared with $131 million in the year-ago quarter. This year, the company took a pretax charge of $9 million for integration costs related to its acquisition of The Hartford’s life insurance business.</p> <p> In the fourth quarter, Prudential reported a $1.5 billon drop in estimated excess capital capacity from earlier forecasts in December. Company executives blamed that drop on dropping interest rates and their impacts on “underhedges” used to manage a portion of the insurance giant’s variable annuity interest rate risk.</p> <p> Declining rates triggered changes in Prudential’s capital requirements and sent managers scrambling for funds at the holding company level, company officials said in February.</p> <p> <strong>Primerica </strong></p> <p> Primerica reported first quarter net income of $43.4 million, or $0.82 cents a share, compared with $45 million, or $0.81 cents a share, in year-ago period.</p> <p> The company also reported net operating income of $42.5 million, or $0.80 cents per share diluted, compared with $43.3 million, or $0.77 centers per share in the year-ago period. Zacks Investment Research consensus estimated income at $0.83 cents per share.</p> <p> Operating revenues were $324.1 million, an increase of 6 percent over the year-ago period. Overall operating revenues were helped by term life operating revenues, which grew to $198.4 million in the first quarter, an increase of 8 percent over the year-ago period, the company also said.</p> <p> CEO Glenn Williams said in a news release that compared with the first quarter last year, the company this year saw growth in the size of the life insurance-licensed sales force and the number of new sales recruits.</p> <p> At the end of the first quarter, the number of life insurance-licensed agents rose to 98,145, an increase of 3 percent compared with the year-ago period, the company said. The number of new representatives also grew by 10 percent over last year, as new reps were attracted with the help of a special incentive programs.</p> <p> <em>InsuranceNewsNet Senior Writer Cyril Tuohy</em> <em>h</em><em>as covered the financial services industry for more than 15 years. Cyril may be reached at </em><a href="mailto:[email protected]"><em>[email protected]</em></a><em>.</em></p> <p> <strong>© Entire contents copyright 2015 by InsuranceNewsNet.com Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted without the expressed written consent from InsuranceNewsNet.com.</strong></p> <p>  </p>