Fresh blow for AIG turnaround as Q1 results fall short

AIG’s share price fell 2.61% today as results in the first quarter fell short of expectations. 

General insurance sank to an underwriting loss of $251m and 103.8 combined ratio - but it was the earnings miss that alarmed investors.

Analysts had been expecting adjusted after tax income per share of $1.25, according to a Bloomberg survey of analysts, but AIG landed on a disappointing $1.04. 

The failure to meet expectations will have investors worrying new boss Brian Duperreault is leading yet another false down at AIG, which has endured a turbulent period of see-sawing results.

But Duperreault was upbeat. 

He said: “We made progress towards delivering consistent results with net favourable reserve development, a stable general insurance accident year loss ratio, and solid life and retirement results.

“Our emphasis on fundamental underwriting practices, increasing accountability across our businesses, and disciplined decision making is taking hold.”

Overall net income fell to $938 million, or $1.01 a share, from $1.19 billion, or $1.18, a year earlier.

AIG fixing job 

In February, operations chief Peter Zaffino, said the firm was working on fixing the business.

It followed a period of underwriting losses and reserve hikes. 

AIG’s losses narrowed slightly in 2017. 

Duperreault has been clear that AIG needs to improve underwriting and has declared this year as the ‘year of the underwriter’. 

In January, it emerged AIG was buying Validus for $5.6bn.