By Ulrike Dauer
German insurer Allianz SE said it was on track to reach its
full-year profit guidance after net profit rose 11% in the first
three months of the year, helped by gains in third-party assets
under management.
Europe's biggest primary insurer by market value said on
Wednesday that net profit rose to EUR1.82 billion ($2.03 billion)
in the first quarter from EUR1.64 billion in the same period a year
earlier. This was well above forecasts for EUR1.61 billion in a Dow
Jones Newswires analyst poll.
"Our first-quarter results were a good start into 2015 and we
remain confident in achieving our full-year operating profit target
of 10.4 billion euros, plus or minus 400 million euros," said Chief
Executive Michael Diekmann, who will had over the baton to Oliver
Baete after Wednesday's annual general meeting.
Operating profit rose to EUR2.86 billion from EUR2.72 billion,
while total revenue increased by 11.2% to EUR37.8 billion from
EUR33.96 billion. Analysts had forecast a decline in operating
profit to EUR2.63 billion.
In the quarter, costs for natural disasters rose, while the new
business margin in its life-health insurance business narrowed
compared with a year earlier. Third-party assets rose 7.2% to
EUR1.41 trillion from EUR1.31 trillion at the end of 2014, helped
by positive effects from market valuations and currency factors,
Allianz said.
The German insurer usually publishes a small set of key
preliminary first-quarter earnings and an update on its full-year
guidance ahead of its annual shareholders' meeting. The full
earnings report for the first quarter will be available on May
12.
Allianz has property-casualty and life-health insurance
operations and an asset management business that includes Pacific
Investment Management Co., the world's biggest bond fund manager,
as well as smaller peer Allianz Global Investors.
While Allianz Global Investors has developed positively, Pimco's
net asset outflows continue to drag on quarterly results after the
departure of co-founder and chief investment officer Bill Gross
last September and weak.
In April, net outflow of the flagship Total Return fund reached
the lowest levels since Mr. Gross's departure.
Write to Ulrike Dauer at ulrike.dauer@wsj.com
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