With strong returns from its international businesses, MetLife Inc. exceeded analysts' expectations when it reported that first-quarter earnings increased 37.7% from a year earlier, to $983 million, or $1.28 a share.
International earnings rose 63%, to $124 million.
C. Robert Henrickson, the New York company's chairman, president, and chief executive officer, said during a conference call Wednesday that it has generated strong growth in Latin America and Asia.
Total revenue from international markets rose 18%, Mr. Henrickson said, led by strong results in Mexico, where sales increased 22%, and Japan.
The company's Japanese unit, MSI MetLife, increased annuity sales 36%, to $1.6 billion.
"In Japan in March we saw record daily sales and record monthly sales," he said.
William J. Toppeta, the president of MetLife's international business, said during the earnings call that his company expanded the number of corporate distributors for its annuities in Japan by over a third in the first quarter, to 67.
"We had some solid performance, and we are competing to be able to distribute annuities, but there are many competitors," he said.
MetLife plans to continue to expand its international operations, both organically and through acquisitions, Mr. Toppeta said. In the first quarter it entered the United Kingdom, where it launched a variable annuity business similar to one that Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. has operated there for the past five years.
"We have set up an operation and have begun the business" in the United Kingdom, Mr. Toppeta said. "We are interested in the market, and we are always interested in growth, and our growth has always been organic and M&A. We are looking for opportunities, but I can't give anything more specific than that."
MetLife plans to continue to invest in its international businesses to continue to grow, Mr. Toppeta said. "I'd expect that for the remainder of the year expenses will ramp up."
Overall, MetLife said its operating earnings increased 5.5%, to $1.08 billion, or $1.41 a share, beating the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial by 12 cents.
Revenue rose 6%, to $8.4 billion, as premiums, fees, and other revenue increased.
In international markets, premiums, fees, and other revenue increased 18%.
Sales of variable annuities at MetLife increased 4%, to $128.3 billion. Lisa M. Weber, the president of MetLife's individual businesses, said the company rolled out a lifetime withdrawal guarantee rider in two major accounts in February and two more last month.
MetLife will launch another guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefit rider this month and a proprietary product in another "major category" by the end of this quarter, Ms. Weber said.
During the quarter MetLife bought back 11.9 million shares of common stock at a cost of $750 million. As of March 31 it had $458 million authorized for additional share repurchases this year.
William J. Wheeler, an executive vice president and the chief financial officer at MetLife, said during the conference call that his company had said at its investor day at the end of the fourth quarter that it expected to make $750 million of buybacks this year. However, having reached that goal will not preclude it from doing more, he said.
"We have quite a bit of cash and good cash flow, but we also have capital needs and perhaps some business expansion in the future," he said. "We'll just have to see how the rest of this year plays out in terms of our capital needs before we make a decision there."
Joan H. Zief, an analyst with Goldman Sachs Group Inc., who covers the insurance sector, wrote in a research note that the first-quarter results and the stock buybacks suggest that MetLife's full-year earnings will beat its outlook of $5.05 to $5.30 a share.
Last year MetLife sold two of the largest apartment complexes in Manhattan for $5.4 billion and reported a $3 billion after-tax gain from the sales. Analysts have said there may be more real estate transactions in the pipeline.
