20th Century Profit Falls; Insurance Unit Takes Loss

20th Century Industries, the Woodland Hills-based parent of 20th Century Insurance, said its first-quarter profit fell 12% from a year earlier and that its basic insurance business suffered a loss.

20th Century’s operations lost $8.4 million in the quarter ended March 31, more than six times the operating loss of $1.3 million the company posted a year earlier. But a 29% jump in net investment income, to $12.3 million from $9.5 million, enabled 20th Century to show a profit in the latest quarter.

Chairman Louis W. Foster said in a statement that rising bodily injury claims from auto accidents produced a “substantial earnings drag” in the latest quarter, and that 20th Century also lost money underwriting homeowners’ insurance.