Credit market hit sends Sun Life to Q3 loss
Sun Life Financial Inc. said Tuesday that more than $636 million in charges related to the battered credit market pushed the company to a third-quarter loss of $396 million.
The charges stem from the company's exposure to U.S. firms that were slammed by the credit squeeze, including Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual and American International Group, Sun Life said.
In the third quarter of last year, the Toronto-based insurer and financial-services conglomerate made a profit of $577 million, or $1 a share. The per-share loss in the most-recent quarter was 71 cents.
In addition to the big charge for its credit market exposure, Sun Life also took $326 million in after-tax charges related to equity market impacts.
"Unprecedented events in the global financial sector characterized the third quarter and significantly impacted our results," said Donald Stewart, the company's CEO.
"Despite these extraordinary occurrences, Sun Life is well positioned to manage through this challenging economic environment," he said
Sun Life said that excluding the myriad of charges, its earnings for the third quarter of 2008 were $566 million, or $1 per share, slightly ahead of analysts' expectations.
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