Travelers Cos., the personal and commercial property insurer in the US, said on Tuesday that owing to a fall in investment income, its profit in the fourth-quarter also fell by
25 percent. However, the operating earnings of the company exceeded the Wall Street expectation.

Tumbling from the 2007 fourth-quarter figures of $1.06 billion, or $1.64 per share, the net income this time around was $801 million, or $1.35 per share. Excluding items, the figures stood at $1.58 cents per share, which exceeded the analysts' average expectation of $1.46 per share.

For the full-year, Travelers earnings of $2.92 billion, or $4.82 per share, fell significantly below the earlier year figures of $4.6 billion, or $6.86 per share.

According to the St. Paul, Minn.-based company, the lower profit in the fourth-quarter revealed a 37 percent fall in investment income to $438 million from the year-before $696 million. The investment loss resulted mainly from Travelers' non-fixed income portfolio - comprising hedge funds, private-equity funds, and real-estate partnerships.

However, the company's reserves of $189 million gave its earnings a boost. Travelers could release the reserves since claims for earlier-year periods were lower than expected.

So far as the 2009 estimates are concerned, Travelers expects its operating income to be between $4.50 and $4.90 a share, which is below analysts' average expectations of $5.57 per share.