Kingsway net income for 2006

Kingsway Financial Services recently announced a US$123.3 million net income for 2006.
Net income in the quarter was $16.8 million (C$19.2 million), compared to $35.9 million (C$42.1 million) in the fourth quarter of last year. Net income for 2006 was $123.3 million (C$139.4 million) compared to $135.0 million(C$163.1 million) reported last year.
In the fourth quarter, operating earnings (1) amounted to $4.9 million(C$5.4 million) compared to $29.5 million (C$34.6 million) in the same quarter last year. Operating earnings for the year were $99.9 million (C$112.9 million) compared to $106.4 million (C$128.7 million) last year.
“Competitive market conditions have impacted our growth, and consequently our results for the year were disappointing to us, however, we did produce a healthy return on equity of 14.5%,” said Bill Star, president & CEO. “The results from our Canadian operations were very strong and were much improved over last year; however, based on loss trends that emerged and the recommendations of our independent actuaries, we determined that it was appropriate to increase estimated unpaid claims reserves related to prior periods in our U.S. program business. These actions together with the recently announced acquisition of Mendota and the increasing yield on our growing investment portfolio put us in a position to achieve improved profitability for 2007.”