Torchmark Corporation Reports First Quarter 20...( MCKINNEY Texas April 16 /- Torchm...),Health

MCKINNEY, Texas, April 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Torchmark Corporation (NYSE: TMK) reported today that for the quarter ended March 31, 2008, net income was $1.29 per share compared with $1.37 per share for the year-ago quarter. Net operating income for the quarter was $1.43 per share, an 8% per share increase compared with $1.32 per share for the year-ago quarter.

Reconciliations between net income and net operating income are shown in the Financial Summary below.

FINANCIAL SUMMARY

Net operating income, a non-GAAP financial measure, has long been consistently used by Torchmark's management to evaluate the operating performance of the Company, and is a measure commonly used in the life insurance industry. It differs from net income primarily because it excludes certain non-operating items such as realized investment gains and losses and nonrecurring items which are included in net income. Management believes that an analysis of net operating income is important in understanding the profitability and operating trends of the Company's business.

Financial Summary

(dollars in millions, except per share data)

Per Share

Quarter Ended Quarter Ended

March 31, % March 31, %

2008 2007 Chg. 2008 2007 Chg.

Insurance underwriting

income $1.31 $1.20 9 $120.2 $119.3 1

Excess investment

income .91 .84 8 83.4 83.0

Parent company expense (.02) (.02) (1.7) (1.8)

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