Metlife Inc. reported Thursday morning on April the 26th.
Net operating earnings were up year over year at $1.46 billion or $1.37 per
share compared to $1.32 billion or $1.23 per share one year ago. However
Metlife Inc. posted a net loss for the quarter of $174 million due to
extraordinary items including $1.3 billion in derivative losses tied to credit
spreads and interest rates. The stock declined in after hours on the news but
rebounded Friday to recover a majority of the lost ground. International growth
was strong, with operating earnings in China posting 33% growth year over year
and sales in Japan grew by 28% year over year. Total sales for their entire Asian
segment were up 15%, premiums, fees, and other revenues were up 8%. Their EMEA
(Europe, Middle East, and South Asia) segment saw operating earnings fall 4%
year over year due to unfavorable exchange rates and a difficult economic environment
in Europe however despite the environment, premiums, fees, and other revenues
grew by 9% in the segment. Latin America saw operating earnings up 33% year
over year.
In the conference call management addressed the derivatives
loss briefly only to say that “derivative gains and loses related to MetLife’s
credit spreads do not have an economic impact on the company.” Management
affirmed their direction to free Metlife Inc. of increased regulatory oversight
levied though the previously announced sale of Metlife Bank to GE Capital, the
spin down of their forward mortgage business, and the newly announced sale of
Metlife Inc.’s reversed mortgage to Nationstar Mortgage LLC. While this is good
news for the possibility of returning capital to shareholders management dodged
questions stating that they could not read the regulators. Management declined
to update or affirm 2012 projections.
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