German insurance giant Allianz announced that net profit soared nearly seven-fold in the third quarter, because year-earlier figures had been hit by heavy writedowns on holdings of Greek bonds. But its estimates of the cost of hurricane Sandy were uncertain at this stage, it noted.
On the back of the strong performance, Allianz upheld its full-year forecast for operating profit of more than 9.0 billion euros ($11.5 billion).
Allianz said in a statement it booked bottom-line net profit of 1.344 billion euros in the period from July to September, compared with 196 million euros a year earlier. Operating profit grew by 32.8 per cent to 2.532 billion euros on a 4.7-percent increase in revenues to 25.2 billion euros, the statement said.
“In the third quarter, we continued momentum from the first half of the year,” the company boasted, saying that all three business segments — property and casualty, life and health and asset management — saw improvements.
“Following the strong operating performance, we expect full-year operating profit to exceed 9.0 billion euros, assuming no adverse developments during the remainder of the year,” Allianz said.
“Net income development will continue to be influenced by balance sheet strengthening including investment de-risking and restructuring activities,” it said.
Allianz cautioned that its forecasts took into account only very preliminary estimates regarding the impacts of hurricane Sandy that slammed into the United States.
The forecast could change, since “as common with such large catastrophes, comprehensive and reliable loss estimates from all affected clients across various business segments and operating entities can only be made weeks or even months after the event,” it said.
Earlier this week, Munich Re, the world’s biggest reinsurer, estimated its the losses would be “in the mid three-digit million-euro range,” or around 500 million euros.
Chief financial officer Oliver Baete said Allianz was “very happy that the situation on the financial markets has eased,” pointing to the anti-crisis measures by the European Central Bank and the different measures taken by governments to create a Europe-wide banking supervisor. Investors appeared unimpressed by the third-quarter earnings and Allianz shares shed 1.64 percent on the Frankfurt stock exchange on Friday in a generally slightly softer market.
Frankfurt, Nov 09, 2012 (AFP)
