MedPartners Posts First-Quarter Gain

MedPartners Inc., the company whose troubled managed-care business was taken over by California regulators in March, posted an increase in net income for the first quarter, but its profit remains slim at a margin of 1.4%. The profit, which does not include any losses from its physician-practice management operations or elsewhere because they are being discontinued, is based on income from the company’s new core business, Caremark Inc., which manages pharmaceutical benefits for employers. The Birmingham, Ala.-based company’s net income from continuing operations, chiefly its Caremark division, rose to $10.8 million, or 6 cents per share in the quarter ended March 31, from $6.4 million, or 3 cents, in the year-ago period. MedPartners stock closed at $5.88, down 25 cents, in NYSE trading.