Fairfax Financial Holdings reported a $60.4 million loss in its most recent quarter, hurt by losses by its investments.

The Toronto-based insurance company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, said that it lost just over $60 million  for the three months ended March 31 compared with a profit of $631.8 million a year ago.

The results included $153 million in net losses on investments, compared with a gain of $1.07 billion on investments in the first three months of 2008.

Total revenue for the quarter was $1.28 billion, down from $2.37 billion.

In a conference call of the earnings on May 1st, Fairfax chairman and chief executive Prem Watsa said that while the company’s investments should provide excellent returns in the long term, future quarters – or even years – might be "lumpy."

Fairfax is a small holding company with large decentralized subsidiaries focused on property, casualty and commercial insurance including Northbridge Financial in Canada, Crum & Forster in the United States and Odyssey Re worldwide.