L Loews Corporation

   By Austen Hufford 
 

Loews Corp. and its insurance unit CNA Financial Corp. posted revenue declines as decreased investment returns hurt results.

Loews owns 90% of CNA, which typically accounts for most of the conglomerate's revenue.

Loews' other big holdings include contract driller Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. and oil and gas transporter Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP. All three and the parent company are publicly traded.

CNA's earnings were hurt by a decline in net investment income and realized investment losses. The investment-related declines were partially offset by improved property and casualty underwriting results and life and group segment results.

CNA Financial recorded a profit of $66 million, or 24 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $233 million, or 86 cents a share.

For the latest quarter, Loews reported a net profit of $102 million down from $109 million. On a per share basis, earnings increased to 30 cents from 29 cents as the number of shares outstanding fell 9.1% due to share repurchases.

Revenue at Loews slid 8.8% to $3.17 billion. Revenue from insurance premiums, its largest top line contributor, increased 0.7% to $1.7 billion.

At Diamond Offshore, revenue slid 25% to $471 million but cost cuts helped the driller swing to a profit and beat Wall Street estimates. Diamond also said that Kelly Youngblood would be its next Chief Financial Officer, replacing Gary Krenek, who is retiring after 33 years with the company and its predecessors.

At Boardwalk Pipeline revenue increased 5.2% to $347 million, Loews said.

Write to Austen Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 02, 2016 07:34 ET (11:34 GMT)

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