30.11.2006 |
Group results (pre-tax) after nine months at EUR 191.2 million, more than 21% above the previous year's level
Premiums earned (incl. savings portion) at EUR 3.4 billion after nine months - an increase of 8.4%
Investments at EUR 20.4 billion, for the first time over EUR 20 billion
The Supervisory Board approves of issuance by UNIQA Versicherungen AG of a supplementary capital bond with a volume of EUR 250 million
The UNIQA Group was successful in implementing its strategy of profitable growth in the third quarter of 2006. Pre-tax profit could be increased by 21.2% to EUR 191.2 million.
Premiums earned (incl. the savings portion from the unit-linked and index-linked life insurance) are, after three quarters, at EUR 3,401.0 million and 8.4% above the previous year's level. The group companies in Austria contributed EUR 2,336.6 million (+1.6%). The group companies outside of Austria continue to show particularly strong growth dynamics - increasing their premium volume by 26.8% to EUR 1,064.5 million, thus contributing 31.3% to the group's premium volume.
In life insurance the volume of premiums earned rose by 13.4% to EUR 1,459.2 million. Outside of Austria, the companies of the UNIQA Group were able to increase their life insurance premiums by an impressive 58.4% to EUR 441.6 million. In Austria total life insurance premiums rose by 0.9% to EUR 1,017.6 million. The foreign share in the life insurance line is already at 30.3%.
The premiums earned in property and casualty insurance increased in the first three quarters of 2006 by 4.4% to EUR 1,276.8 million. In foreign business they rose by 8.2% to EUR 489.0 million and in Austria by 2.2% to EUR 787.8 million. This means that this year already 38.3% of premiums are from abroad. The gross combined ratio was at 96.1% after nine months.
In health insurance, the UNIQA Group achieved a rise in premiums of 5.8% to EUR 665.0 million. In Austria the premium volume was up 2.2% to EUR 531.1 million. Outside of Austria growth was at 23.1% and premiums reached EUR 133.9 million which is already 20.1% of the group's premium volume in health insurance.
Reduced loss expenses and benefits paid / cost ratio lowered By applying many diverse measures we have succeeded in slightly lowering the UNIQA Group's total loss expenses and benefits paid of EUR 2,752.5 million compared to the previous year (-0.2%). Because expenses (before the change in the deferred acquisition costs) went up 7.6% to EUR 748.4 million which was clearly less than premiums, the overall cost ratio sank to 22.0 %.
Earnings preview for 2006 confirmed at about EUR 230 million This means that the expectation of annual results for 2006 amounting to EUR 230 million can be confirmed and has been comfortably secured.
Supplementary capital bond In light of the strong growth in the group the Supervisory Board has given approval for UNIQA Versicherungen AG to issue subordinate capital in the form of a supplementary capital bond with a volume of EUR 250 million.
Reservations concerning statements about the future This message contains statements that refer to future developments in the UNIQA Group Austria. These statements are appraisals that are made based on all information available to us at the current point in time. If the assumptions on which they are based do not occur, the actual events may vary from the results currently expected. For this reason, we cannot accept liability for these statements.
Vienna, 30. November 2006