Bermuda life reinsurer Annuity & Life Re said in an earnings report on Thursday night that it lost $539,968 in the second quarter.

Annuity?s loss, equal to a shareholder loss of two cents a share, compared to a loss during the same period last year of $6.4 million, or 25 cents a share.

The poor result continues a spate of losses for the company.

Annuity?s troubles can largely be linked to a contract it had with Transamerica Reinsurance, an affiliate of commercial insurance giant American International Group.

In 2004, ANR posted a net loss of $68 million. Of that, $60.6 million was taken as a charge related to the termination of the Transamerica agreement.

And in the first three months of this year, ANR said it paid a further $39.6 million in connection with a novation and recapture transaction of two of its largest life reinsurance agreements to Transamerica.

Its earnings statement last Thursday said $39.6 million was the total paid to Transamerica in the first six months of 2005, indicating there were no additional charges in the second quarter.

More than a year ago, Annuity investors lost confidence in the company?s stock after its results slumped quarter on quarter. The company?s shares fell to prolonged trading below $1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Eventually the situation, with the shares having become a penny stock, came to a head and the New York Stock Exchange delisted Annuity last July.

Annuity said the loss in the second quarter includes a $5 million pay-out for the company to settle a shareholder class action lawsuit against Annuity and some of its present and former directors and officers.

Typically class action investor lawsuits will be taken out against a company and its management if there is a serious drop in the company?s share price.

ANR, which now trades on the Over the Counter (OTC) stock exchange, was the first life reinsurer to hang out its shingle in Bermuda.

On Friday, the company?s shares gained five cents to close at 85 cents a share.

The shares have traded between 27 cents and $1.19 in the last year.