Hertford (LSE:HIG)
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Think of Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (HIG) as an insurance company first and as an annuity provider second as the company starts to rebuild, said Hartford's chief executive Thursday.

Five years ago, the annuity business was "dominant" in the company's operations, but from now on Hartford will be an "insurance franchise with a concentration in the annuity business," Chairman and Chief Executive Ramani Ayer said at a Keefe Bruyette & Woods insurance conference Thursday. The conference was held in New York and monitored via the Internet.

Ayer offered a cautiously optimistic outlook for the company, which he said continues to do well in its property-and-casualty and life-insurance businesses in an uncertain economic environment.

Its variable annuity business added to losses Hartford faced from the market downturn of the last year, and contributed to Hartford becoming one of a handful of insurers that turned to the government for help. Earlier this year, Hartford closed on a $3.4 billion investment from the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. The insurer raised another $900 million through an equity raise.

Hartford stopped writing new variable annuity business in Japan and the United Kingdom as it restructures the business and is cutting expenses throughout the business.

Ayer said the company's investment portfolio strengthened in July and August. Unrealized losses on its investments declined by $3.3 billion to a total of $8.2 billion, down from $11.5 billion at the end of the second quarter.

However, economic headwinds will continue for the "next several quarters" and will continue to exert pressure on its property/casualty insurance business, Ayer said. Pricing in homeowners and auto-insurance products has begun to rise, he said, but commercial insurance prices continue to be soft.

"There is still a lot of uncertainty" in the market, Ayer said. "Those headwinds have not completely sorted out."

Shares of Hartford rose 3.9% recently, to $23.90.

-By Lavonne Kuykendall, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4141; lavonne.kuykendall@dowjones.com