Revenue, profit up in 2013 for Allianz Group

Allianz Group has reported a 4.1% rise in revenue to 110.8 billion euros for 2013, and a jump in operating profit to 10.1 billion euros from 9.3 billion euros in 2012.

Net income increased by 14.6% to 6 billion euros (from 5.2 billion in 2012), the company also reported Thursday.

Allianz also said its number of insured customers increased by five million last year to more than 83 million.

For property and casualty insurance, gross written premiums of 46.6 billion euros for 2013 were slightly below 46.9 billion euros the year before.

Operating profit for P&C insurance rose to 5.3 billion euros for the year, from 4.6 billion euros for 2012. “This growth stemmed from a strong underwriting result, despite higher compensations for customers following natural catastrophes and despite a lower investment result,” Allianz said.

Natural catastrophes, and storms in Europe in particular, contributed 2.9 percentage points to the loss ratio in 2013, up from 1.7 percentage points in the year before.

Still, the combined ratio for the year improved to 94.3% from 96.2% in 2012.

“In a politically and economically challenging environment Allianz produced very good results for 2013, and we want to maintain that level this year as well. Therefore, our operating profit outlook for 2014 is 10.0 billion euros, plus/minus 500 million euros,” Michael Diekmann, CEO of Allianz SE commented in its press release.

“The environment will remain challenging in 2014, but our performance shows that we are well positioned with our three-segment strategy.”