American Financial Q2 Profit Down

(RTTNews) - American Financial Group Inc. (AFG) reported 2020 second quarter net earnings attributable to shareholders of $177 million or $1.97 per share, down from $210 million or $2.31 per share in the 2019 second quarter.

Core net operating earnings were $95 million or $1.05 per share, compared to $192 million or $2.12 per share in the 2019 second quarter. The year-over-year decrease was the result of negative adjustments to the Company's $2.2 billion of alternative investments that are marked to market through core operating earnings. The COVID-19 pandemic has had widespread financial and economic impacts, which adversely affected returns on alternative investments.

Excluding the impact of alternative investments, AFG's second quarter 2020 core net operating earnings decreased $12 million or $0.13 per share year-over-year.

Total revenues were $1.95 billion down from $1.96 billion in the prior year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $1.39 per share and revenues of $1.25 billion. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.