FNF Announces Jan. Job Cuts, $1.7 Million 4Q Loss

Title insurer Fidelity National Financial Inc. (FNF) announced that, through the end of January, it laid off approximately 1,500 of the 5,500 employees it inherited through the acquisition of three units of LandAmerica Financial Group Inc.

The acquisition of Commonwealth Land Title, Lawyers Title and United Capital Title closed on Dec. 22, 2008, and FNF Chairman William P. Foley II said through the first month of ownership, Jacksonville, Fla.-based FNF has reduced the existing workforce of those units by 27 percent and closed about 125 offices.

"We will continue to evaluate the cost structure of the acquired underwriters in the first quarter, but we believe the largest costs have been taken out in the first month of ownership," Mr. Foley said in a statement.

The announcement came as FNF announced a 2008 fourth-quarter net loss of $1.7 million, or $.01 per diluted share, compared to a 2007 fourth-quarter net loss of $44.9 million, or $.21 per share.

For the year, FNF reported a 2008 net loss of $165.8 million, compared to 2007 net earnings of $129.8 million.

Mr. Foley said, "We continued to operate in challenging markets during the fourth quarter as low order volumes in October and November caused us to continue to aggressively reduce expenses in our title operations."

Revenue for the 2008 fourth quarter slipped to $1.02 billion from $1.3 billion in the previous year's fourth quarter. For the year, revenue fell to $4.3 billion in 2008 from 5.5 billion in 2007.

Mr. Foley cited as positives the acquisition of the LandAmerica units, which now make FNF the nation's largest title insurer by market share, and an increase in open order counts in the months of December and January.

Mr. Foley said, "Absolute total open order counts more than doubled in December versus their November level, with per-day open orders of 9,300 increasing by approximately 65 percent." In January, open order counts improved to approximately 14,200 orders per day, Mr. Foley said.