Thursday, employee benefit services company Delphi Financial Group Inc. (DFG), reported that its first-quarter net income increased 16% from last year on the continued strength in its insurance operations and improved investment performance.
The company's net income for the quarter increased to $24.5 million or $0.51 per share from $21.1 million or $0.42 per share in the year-ago period.
The net income in the first quarter of 2009 included after-tax realized investment losses of $14.3 million or $0.30 per share, while the year-ago quarterly net income included after-tax realized investment losses of $4.2 million or $0.09 per share.
Excluding items, the company's quarterly operating earnings were $38.8 million or $0.81 per share, up from $25.3 million or $0.51 per share in the comparable quarter last year. On average, 6 analysts tracked by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.61 per share.
Delphi Financial's quarterly revenue increased to $398.58 million from $368.19 million in the year-ago period. The company's revenue includes premium and fee income, net investment income and net realized investment losses. Wall Street analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $409.14 million.
The company's net investment income for the quarter was $62.9 million compared to $32.3 million in the same quarter a year ago.
Delphi Financial said that its core group employee benefit premium in the first quarter of 2009 was $338 million, reflecting 4% growth over the year-ago period.
In its asset accumulation segment, Delphi Financial achieved annuity sales of $60 million in the first quarter of 2009, up 14% from the comparable quarter last year. According to the company, funds under management at March 31, 2009 were $1.3 billion, unchanged from December 31, 2008, as annuity sales growth was offset by the scheduled repayment of $35 million of institutional funding agreements at maturity.
DFG closed Thursday's trading at $16.63, down 0.42% on a volume of 474,949 shares.
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