Hartford Financial Life Earnings Up

First-quarter earnings posted today by Hartford Financial Services Group, driven by strong results from Hartford’s Life business, will beat Wall Street expectations.

Core earnings were $226 million for the quarter, up 4 percent from $218 million for the same period last year, as strong performance in life operations was partially offset by a decline in North American property and casualty results.

Core earnings for North American property and casualty operations were $100 million for the first quarter, down 20 percent from $125 million for the same period a year ago. This decline reflects an increase in personal automobile loss costs, higher catastrophe losses and expenses related to the commercial lines field office reorginazation.

Catastrophe losses for the quarter were $33 million (after-tax) versus $18 million (after-tax) a year ago.

Net written premiums for North American p/c operations were $1.7 billion for the quarter, up 11 percent over the same period last year. The strongest written premium growth occurred in reinsurance, small business and personal lines, which grew 22 percent, 21 percent and 9 percent, respectively.