NU Online News Service, May 1, 9:15 p.m. – Conseco Inc., Carmel, Ind., is reporting a $96 million net loss for the first quarter on $1.9 billion in revenue, down from $80 million in net income on $2.1 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2001.
Even when Carmel uses its preferred performance measure, "operating earnings from continuing operations before goodwill amortization," earnings fell to $40 million, from $54 million.
But Gary Wendt, the chairman of the insurance and consumer finance committee, said today at the company's first-quarter earnings conference that he believes the company is doing a good job of overcoming debt problems and other problems that piled up in past years.
"Whether you be a supporter or you be a detractor, you can find some good things to talk about in our earnings release," Wendt said.
The consumer finance unit, which has been struggling to overcome bad loans, reported $33 million in operating earnings for the latest quarter, down from $64 million for the comparable quarter in 2001. But Conseco executives said they were happy the unit managed to turn a profit at all during such difficult economic times.
The insurance unit, which sells long-term care insurance, Medicare supplement insurance, dread disease insurance and annuities, generated $164 million in operating profits in the latest quarter on $824 million in premium revenue, down from $203 million on $830 million in revenue.
