Business & Finance

German insurer Allianz says 2010 profit up by 20.1 percent

Published Updated

Revenues gained 9.3 percent to a record high of 106.5 billion euros meanwhile; a statement quoted chief executive Michael Diekmann as saying, while operating profit leapt by 17 percent to 8.2 billion euros.

That was 500 million euros more than the group had forecast.

"We are proud of having achieved substantial growth in 2010. Revenues were above our historical best and our operating profit exceeded our own expectations," Diekmann said.

The group benefitted from positive comparisons with weak results in 2009 and the effects of favourable foreign exchange rates.

Allianz will propose a dividend of 4.50 euros per share, up from 4.10 euros in 2009, the statement said.

In the final quarter of 2010, the biggest European insurance group posted a net profit of 1.13 billion euros, a gain of 11.4 percent, which nonetheless undershot an average analyst forecast of 16 percent compiled by Dow Jones Newswires.

The insurer did not give a forecast for 2011.

It said that premiums from health and life insurance policies had grown last year by 12.5 percent to 57.1 billion euros and that total assets under management surged by 26.2 percent to a record 1.518 billion euros.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011