Kingsway Financial reports Q1 results
A slimmed-down Kingsway Financial Services Inc. returned to profitability in the first quarter, although the insurance company’s revenue dropped dramatically from the same time last year.
The Toronto-area company, which reports in U.S. currency, had $24.1 million or 46 cents per share of net income in the first quarter with $83.4 million of revenue from insurance premiums and investment income. That compared with a $58.3-million loss, or $1.06 per share, in the first quarter of 2009 with $142.4 million of revenue.
Kingsway spent last year reorganizing and narrowing its business. The drop in first-quarter revenue reflected the company’s strategy of discontinuing unprofitable lines of business, primarily within its commercial lines. The first quarter of 2010 included $3.7 million of restructuring costs, which was primarily severance for senior management in Canada. The company is now focused on providing non-standard automobile insurance in the United States to drivers who don’t qualify for conventional insurance. That provided $70.9 million of gross premiums written in the first quarter, or 84 per cent of the total. A year earlier, the comparable numbers were $96.9 million or 71 per cent of the total. The company said its board of directors has decided against declaring a dividend for the first quarter.
Kingsway stopped making quarterly payouts to its shareholders last summer.
