(Bloomberg) — Freddie Mac, the U.S.-owned mortgage financier,will send $746 million to the Treasury Department next month afterreporting first-quarter net income of $524 million.

The new payment by McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac, which has beenunder conservatorship since 2008, will bring total returns to $92.6billion, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday, far beyond whatthe company received in federal aid to stay afloat during thecredit crisis.

The company again avoided a quarterly loss even while sufferingsizable expenses from derivatives — totaling $2.4 billion in theperiod that ended March 31 — that under generally acceptedaccounting principles aren't offset by gains on the assets beinghedged. Losses in any period that reduce its net worth, which issteadily declining under its bailout agreement, below zero wouldrequire the company to take more U.S. funds, potentially drawingunwanted attention from policy makers.

"We continue to be profitable on a GAAP basis despite the noise,and the underlying economics are even better than the GAAPaccounting numbers," Donald H. Layton, the company's chiefexecutive officer, said on a conference call with reporters. ''Wehad what we consider a very good quarter.''

Freddie Mac and larger rival Fannie Mae are required to payTreasury all profits above a minimum net worth under termsestablished after they were seized by regulators amid losses thatpushed them to the brink of collapse. The money counts as a returnon the U.S. investment and not as repayment, leaving no existingmechanism for them to exit government control.

CEO's Pay

In its filing, Freddie Mac also said that the company'sregulator had informed its board that they could propose adjustingLayton's pay, which totaled $600,000 last year.

The CEO said on the call that while his company is seeking tomanage its business based on what will be most profitable over thelong term, its desire to avoid tapping further aid from theTreasury because of accounting quirks may eventually cause it toadjust that approach.

"We might actually begin to do things that would beGAAP-orientated rather than economically oriented," he said. "Westudy that constantly, but we have not gotten there yet."