Allianz makes Q3 net profit of euro1.32 billion

By By GEORGE FREY | AP Business Writer

Comments (0) |

E-Mail

Text Size:

tool goes here

German insurer Allianz SE said Monday it posted a net profit in the third quarter from a loss a year ago due to improved revenue in life and health insurance and financial services.

Allianz, based in Munich, said net income rose to euro1.32 billion ($1.96 billion) from a loss of euro2 billion in the third quarter a year ago.

Revenue in the July-September period rose 4.3 percent to more than euro22 billion from euro21.1 billion in the third quarter of 2008.

http://www.allianz.com

"Our very good third quarter result shows that Allianz has a sound platform for delivering solid earnings even in the 'new normal' of a challenging market environment with structurally lower returns," Oliver Baete, Allianz' chief financial officer said in the company's report.

"Allianz is well capitalized and our solvency ratio has a firm base founded on a high quality investment portfolio and conservative risk management approach," Baete said.

Investors were pleased by the results and the outlook and pushed the shares 4.3 percent higher to euro82.61 in Frankfurt morning trade.

The company said developments in the third quarter of 2009 confirmed the signals of a gradual recovery, but that the global economy would still shrink by 2.3 percent this year - with economies in industrial countries set to contract by 3.3 percent. Factors like government stimulus packages ending and high public sector deficits could also further negatively affect the economy.

Insurance and reinsurance companies are closely watched for their assessments of markets and the economy because they generally invest large sums of premium capital. Allianz is also a financial services company.

That said, the company expects financial markets to continue to be exposed to risk.

Allianz' property-casualty business as well as its life insurance business face weaker demand due to the economic downturn with rising business insolvencies and rising unemployment. Allianz said insurance prices are moving upward only slowly if at all and only in specific areas of business.

Allianz said premiums at its property and casualty insurance business fell 5.4 percent to euro10.2 billion, while operating income fell 18.2 percent to euro1 billion.

At the life and health insurance business premiums rose nearly 15 percent to euro10.8 billion, while operating income rose sharply to euro859 million.

The financial services division saw operating revenue rise 23 percent to euro1.1 billion, while operating profit also rose sharply to euro332 million.

About comments

Reader comments on SanLuisObispo.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Tribune. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.

What you should know about comments on SanLuisObispo.com

SanLuisObispo.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. See our full terms of service here.

Here are some rules of the road:

Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and leave him a public message.
Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.

You should also know that The Tribune does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at webmaster@sanluisobispo.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.

If you submit a comment, the username of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to webmaster@sanluisobispo.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.