FRANKFURT: German reinsurance giant Munich Re said on Thursday that its profits were up strongly in the second quarter and the company was on track to meet its full-year targets.
Munich Re said in a statement that its net profit jumped by 44.9 percent to 765 million euros ($1.0 billion) in the period from April to June.
Underlying or operating profit soared by 62.2 percent to 1.145 billion euros, while gross premium income declined by 7.4 percent to 11.856 billion euros.
Chief executive Nikolaus von Bomhard said he was "satisfied with the result" and "despite the difficult business environment ... was optimistic about achieving the profit target of 3.0 billion euros for the year."
In terms of gross premium income, Munich Re is pencilling in a full-year total of 48 billion euros, the statement said.
"Munich Re expects a continuation of the low interest-rate levels in 2014 and hence somewhat lower regular income from fixed-interest investments," it said.
Reinsurance companies specialise in taking on part of the risks underwritten by mainstream insurance groups, thereby spreading risk.
On Wednesday, another European leader in the field, Swiss Re, said on that its net profit rose by 2.0 percent to $802 million (600 million euros) in the second quarter.
The figure fell short of a consensus forecast by analysts polled by Swiss financial newswire AWP, who had tipped the group to make an average of $894 million.
Premiums rose by 11 percent to $7.5 billion, Swiss Re, said, in a statement.
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