Dive Brief:
- Cigna’s 2016 adjusted income from operations is on track to exceed $2 billion, despite uncertainties around its sale to Anthem, Forbes reported.
- In a Monday regulatory filing, Cigna said “full year 2016 consolidated adjusted income from operations … remains in the range of $2.025 billion to $2.095 billion.”
- The disclosure comes one week after the start of a federal trial to block Anthem’s $53 billion acquisition of Cigna.
Dive Insight:
Cigna’s reveal of $2 billion in operating profits could mean the company wants investors and clients to see its potential as an independent entity. There’s been tension between Cigna and Anthem officials about the megamerger and some believe, as Forbes' Bruce Japsen notes, Cigna just might not be that into the merger.
Recently unsealed court documents from this week further revealed these tensions, The Wall Street Journal reported. For example, the roles and responsibilities in a post-merger company were not met without controversy. "The testimony confirmed that Cigna’s board pushed back after [Anthem CEO Joe] Swedish offered [Cigna CEO David] Cordani authority that fell short of overseeing all of the combined company’s major business units," WSJ's Brent Kendall and Anna Wilde "Mathews wrote, adding, "Mr. Swedish relented and expanded the planned oversight to include all three units.
This summer, Cordani told analysts the insurer will have $5 billion in available cash if the government kills the deal.
In an earnings call earlier this month, Cigna said that profits for the first three quarters of 2016 fell 16.6% to $456 million, down from $547 million a year ago. During the same period, total enrollment in the insurer’s plans grew 2.2% to 15.2 million, from 14.8 million in the first three quarters of 2015.