eight percent the quarter compared to the same period last year.

The company reported a net income for the three months ended March 31, 2000 of $7.8 million or 28 cents a share, compared to $8.5 million or 31 cents a share last year.

Lawrence Doyle, president and chief executive officer, said: "We had solid top-line growth of over 70 percent as we received numerous new business opportunities from the leading life insurers in North America. While our annuity business produced excellent profits, our life business produced disappointing results due to an increase in the number of claims reported on three treaties that are relatively large. We expect this to be a one-off event as there is no pattern of loss demonstrated.'' Annuity and Life Re also reported a marginal increase in its net operating income for the last quarter up 2 percent on last year. Excluding realised gains on investments for the period, its net income was $8.4 million or 31 cents per share compared with $8.2 million for the period last year.