InsWeb Reports Lower Second Quarter Net Loss

By Staff Writer

July 19, 2001 at 08:00 PM

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NU Online News Service, July 19, 5:55 p.m. – InsWeb Corp., Sacramento, Calif., a Web-based insurance broker, is reporting a $7.2 million net loss for the second quarter on $5.6 million in revenue, compared with a $18.7 million net loss on $4.8 million in revenue for the second quarter of 2000.

The company's operating loss fell to $7.8 million, from $19.7 million.

InsWeb is having trouble selling auto insurance because some carriers are refusing to enroll new customers in certain high-cost states, but term life is doing well, the company says.

"We remain confident in the company's ability to sustain long-term growth and achieve profitability," Hussein Enan, InsWeb's chief executive officer, says.

Revenue from auto insurance sales increased 20% from the second quarter of 2000, to $3.4 million, while revenue from term life sales increased 171%, to $1.1 million.

InsWeb has cut costs by reducing its sales, marketing, product development and administrative budgets, but the total number of visitor sessions reached 3.4 million, up 12% from the second quarter of 2000, and the number of sessions ending in sales reached 695,000, up 34%.

The percentage of sessions resulting in sales increased to 20%, from 17%.

The company began the third quarter with $42 million in cash and short-term investments.

If InsWeb achieves its goal of breaking even in mid-2003, it should have enough resources to get by without extra infusions of capital, the company says.

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