Munich Re Ups 2012 Forecast, Despite Sandy
Munich Re, the world's biggest reinsurer, said it was raising its full-year profit forecast, despite the expected claims losses from superstorm Sandy that battered the United States last week.
"The result for the first three quarters is more than pleasing. Despite Hurricane Sandy, we are very optimistic of realizing a profit in the region of 3.0 billion euros for 2012," said chief financial officer Joerg Schneider.
At the beginning of the year, Munich Re had envisaged a full-year profit of around 2.5 billion euros.
Schneider said it was still difficult to quantify the "substantial" insured losses caused by Sandy.
"The high number of individual losses and the vast extent of the storm make loss estimation very difficult. Based on a provisional estimate characterized by a high degree of uncertainty, we anticipate Munich Re's share of the losses to be in the mid three-digit million-euro range," he said.
In the third quarter, Munich Re's net profit nearly quadrupled, rising to 1.13 billion euros in the period from July to September from 286 million euros a year earlier.
Operating profit jumped 70.9 percent to 1.434 billion euros and gross premium income rose by 8.3 percent to 13.236 billion euros.
Profits were driven not only by positive underwriting business but "also by a high investment result," Schneider explained.
Taking the first nine months, net profit amounted to 2.718 billion euros, compared with just 75 million euros a year earlier.
Operating profit was up more than nine-fold at 3.738 billion euros and gross premium income grew by 5.3 percent to 39.133 billion euros.
Source: Agence France Presse
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