US insurer St. Paul has reported a large loss for the fourth quarter of 2001 thanks mainly to $612m (£429m) in restructuring, goodwill and reserve strengthening charges.
St. Paul, which is based in St. Paul, Minnesota, reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $736m (£515m), or $3.57 per share.
That compared with a net profit of $193m (£135m), or $0.83 per share, in the same period last year.
Excluding realized investments and discontinued businesses, the firm reported an after-tax operating loss of $3.14 per share, compared with a profit of $0.55 per share last year.
On that basis, analysts surveyed by research firm Thomson Financial/First Call had been expecting a loss of $2.39 per share, on average.
The loss rounds off a difficult year for St. Paul, which also has an international reinsurance unit and operations at Lloyd's of London.
It was hit with more than $600m (£420m) in claims after the 11 September terrorist attacks on the US.
That contributed to an overall net loss of more than $1bn (£700m) for all of 2001.
St. Paul confirmed that it intended to exit its worldwide health care business and significantly reposition its reinsurance and Lloyd's operations in 2002.
It said it would also be exiting a number of non-US primary insurance markets.
