Allianz Lanka completes 1Q with strong financials

Allianz continued its upward growth trajectory in the first quarter of 2013, achieving a profit before tax of Rs. 85 million, a 5% increase over last year. The non-life company generated a GWP of Rs. 532.2 million during the period, which is a 14% increase over the first quarter of 2012, of this GWP, 63% was contributed from the fire segment whist the motor segment showed the highest growth for the quarter.

The Life Company’s GWP grew by42% over the first quarter figures of last year to Rs. 172 million. New business premium grew by a corresponding 69%. The first quarter of this year saw Allianz Lanka further expanding its network by three new branches in strategic locations; Chilaw, Thirunelveli and Bandarawela to provide more customers with speedier service and ease of access. Customer convenience was further improved island wide with more links to direct methods of payment in partnership with banks and mobile networks.

“A product or price advantage can always be emulated,” explained Allianz Lanka CEO Surekha Alles, “But we are confident that the Allianz culture of strong customer service cannot be duplicated. Because the culture of service is part and parcel of our ethic and mission and we put all our efforts into giving our customers an experience that exceeds their expectations. Our aim this year has been to increase our customer portfolio in the retail sector, and I am very pleased that we are already experiencing tangible results here, due, undoubtedly, to our customer focus.”

Allianz Group continued its successful course from 2012 with a strong first quarter in 2013. All key indicators rose over the reporting period. With 32 billion Euros, Allianz achieved the highest quarterly total revenues in its history, an increase of 6.6% from 30.1 billion Euros in the first quarter of 2012. Operating profit grew 19.9% in the first quarter to 2.8 billion Euros from 2.3 billion Euros the year before.

Allianz’s capital position also remained strong in the reporting period. The conglomerate solvency ratio decreased by 14% points to 183% on 31 March 2013, from 197% on 31 December 2012. Excluding the negative impact of a change in accounting for pensions, the solvency ratio would have strengthened 2% points over the year-end figure. Over the same period, shareholders’ equity increased 3.1% to 51.950 billion Euros from 50.388 billion Euros. With reference to the good capitalisation of Allianz, in March 2013 the rating agency Standard and Poor’s confirmed its ‘AA’ rating and raised its outlook to ‘stable’ from ‘negative’.

“This is a very encouraging start to the year. All segments are performing strongly thanks to our efforts in the previous years. Our customers profit as well, having received 25 billion Euros in insurance benefits in the first quarter,” Allianz SE Chief Financial Officer Dieter Wemmer said.

“We are well positioned to grow both internally and externally. For example, with the agreed acquisition of the Turkish insurer Yapı Kredi Sigorta, we expect to significantly strengthen our position in this important developing market,” Allianz SE CEO Michael Diekmann said. “We are confident that we will continue to grow profitably during the rest of 2013. However, in view of the existing market risks and a possible higher level of natural catastrophes, it would be inappropriate to simply annualise the current quarter’s operating profit. Therefore, we confirm our operating profit outlook for 2013 of 9.2 billion Euros plus or minus 0.5 billion Euros.”