EMC Insurance Group Inc. reported a first-quarter net loss of $76,000, or zero cents per share, compared with net income of $6.8 million, or 32 cents per share, for the first quarter of 2017. Included in the loss is a $9.9 million pretax decline in unrealized investment gains on the company’s equity investments, as required by the updated accounting guidance issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board that the company adopted on Jan. 1. The remainder of the decline was primarily attributed to a high level of non-catastrophe losses in the property and casualty insurance segment and a slight deterioration in the performance of the reinsurance segment compared with the very good results reported in the first quarter of 2017. Premiums earned increased 7.8 percent for the first quarter of 2018.