UPDATE 1-Kingsway Financial posts qtrly loss

* Q3 shr loss $2.19 vs $0.32 a year ago

* Says not to pay quarterly dividend for Q3

* Total premium earned falls 36 pct

Nov 6 (Reuters) - Canadian property and casualty insurer Kingsway Financial Services Inc (KFS.TO) recorded its fifth straight loss in the third quarter, hurt by losses stemming from run-off and discontinued businesses.

The company also said it would not pay a quarterly dividend for the third quarter and cut 240 jobs in the quarter.

Kingsway, which sells high-risk auto and truck insurance, reported a net loss of $118.1 million, or $2.19 a share, for the third quarter, compared with a net loss of $17.4 million, or 32 cents a share, a year ago.

Analysts on average had expected the company to post a loss of 12 cents a share, before special items, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Net premium earned dropped 36 percent to $236.9 million.

The company reported a loss of $128.8 million from its run-off and discontinued businesses, including a loss of $95.5 million from Lincoln General Insurance Co.

Last month, the company off-loaded U.S. unit Lincoln General, giving the money-losing business to charity and agreed to pay off $10 million in debt.

The company has been struggling to right itself for months, divesting non-core businesses and shuffling management as it fights its way through the global financial crisis.

"We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but I believe we have turned the corner and we are on track to return the group to profitability in 2010," Chief Executive Colin Simpson said. (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy)