MBIA Inc. (MBI), a provider of insurance and credit protection products, Monday reported a huge loss in the first quarter of 2008, weighed down hefty charges amid ongoing weakness in the credit market.
The Armonk, New York-based company's first-quarter net loss was $2.41 billion, or $13.03 per share, compared to a net profit of $199.61 million, or $1.46 per share, last year.
On average, six analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial expected the company to incur a loss of $0.19 per share.
The company's first quarter of 2008 included a loss of $3.58 billion on insured derivatives, compared to a loss of $1.79 million in the prior-year quarter.
For the first quarter, the company reported negative revenue of $2.956 billion, compared to positive revenue of $729.942 million last year. Net premiums written were $97.26 million, down from $171.30 million in the previous-year quarter. Premiums earned dropped to $155.32 million from $186.19 million last year.
Net investment income rose to $514.90 million from $510.95 million in the prior-year quarter.
As of March 31, 2008, the company's level 3 assets reached $7.3 billion, representing about 22.5% of total assets measured at fair value. Level 3 liabilities totaled $8.7 billion as of March 31, 2008, and represented approximately 90.7% of total liabilities measured at fair value.
On February 25, 2008, the company had announced the elimination of its quarterly dividend to provide additional capital flexibility. The company said that it will now declare dividends on an annual basis rather than a quarterly basis.
MBI closed Friday's trade at $9.43, down $0.93, on a volume of 10 million shares. In pre-market trading, the company's shares fell 4.56% to $9.
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