22.06.2005 |
The international rating agency Standard & Poor's has subjected two operative core companies from the UNIQA Group to an interactive rating process for the first time. As a result, UNIQA Personenversicherung AG (Personal Insurance plc) and UNIQA Sachversicherung AG (Property Insurance plc) were assigned an "A" today as an "insurer financial strength and counterparty credit rating". The outlook for the two companies has been assessed by S&P as "STABLE". For players on the global stage, a suitably good rating is, above all else, a factor which is not unimportant in competition with other companies.
The rating for these two companies reflects their core status within the UNIQA Group and their significant contribution to its strong capitalization and position in competition with other companies, as well as to the improved operating profit development of the whole group.
+ Strong capitalization: from S&P's point of view, UNIQA has strong capitalization at its disposal at the group level, which is also sufficient for projected further acquisitions, alongside its organic growth.
+ A strong position in competition with other companies: in addition to the UNIQA Group's leading position in Austria, with its sound sales channels, S&P especially recognized its geographical diversification in Central Europe and its increasing share of turnover and earnings from business abroad.
+Increased operating profit development: S&P sees noticeable progress in UNIQA's operative performance as a result of improvement in actuarial profits, its successful cost reduction programme and the picking-up of the financial markets.
+ Ongoing growth strategy: in its analysis, S&P expects UNIQA to continue to expand its presence in Central Europe, also to lessen its dominance in the highly developed Austrian market. The rating agency further assumes that possible larger acquisitions would be facilitated by UNIQA's shareholders with suitable amounts of new capital.
+ Stable outlook: the stable outlook reflects S&P's expectation that UNIQA will continue to benefit from strong operative performance and that its diversification in the Central European area will go even further.
As recently as June, S&P confirmed their assessment of the financial strength of the UNIQA Group as a whole with an "A" rating and raised its outlook to "STABLE".
Vienna, 22. June 2005