Freddie Mac '04 Profit Drops More Than 40 Pct WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Freddie Mac (FRE.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) , the second-largest U.S. home financing company that is pushing to emerge from a scandal-marked era and repair its bruised reputation, on Thursday reported 2004 profit dropped more than 40 percent. Freddie earned $2.8 billion, or $3.78 per share, in 2004, compared with $4.8 billion, or $6.68 per diluted share, in 2003. Analysts on average pegged Freddie Mac 2004 net earnings of $6.87 per share, according to Reuters Estimates. Most analysts use an estimate that excludes various items, with estimates ranging from $6.00 to $8.68 per share for 2004, but the company said it is trying to get back to regular financial reporting and has not yet developed such a figure. The McLean, Virginia-based mortgage funder has not been current in its financial reporting since a 2003 accounting scandal led to a $5 billion restatement. Freddie is due to start posting quarterly results on a regular basis again later this year. Freddie, a shareholder-owned company chartered by Congress to boost homeownership by ensuring a liquid mortgage market, said the fair value of its net assets at the end of 2004 was $30.8 billion, up 13 percent from 2003. That increase was due in part to core spread income from the company's retained portfolio, or the estimated income resulting from the spread between mortgage-related investments and debt, as well as fee-based income. Freddie and its sister government-sponsored housing enterprise, Fannie Mae (FNM.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) , do not lend directly to home buyers. Instead, they buy mortgages from lenders and repackage them as securities for investors, or hold them in their own portfolios. The companies, which together account for nearly half of total residential mortgage debt outstanding, face the possibility of tougher U.S. supervision. Congress is due to weigh legislation that could give Freddie's and Fannie's regulator more power over the companies, including authority to approve any new products or programs they want to launch. Freddie said that legislative reforms now under discussion on Capitol Hill could hurt its financial condition and results in future years. Quelle "Freddie Mac '04 Profit Drops More Than 40 Pct" : reuters.com Main page for "Freddie Mac '04 Profit Drops More Than 40 Pct"