Austrian insurer Vienna Insurance Group has posted a 14% rise in first-half pretax profit thanks to a strong performance from its life insurance arm, Reuters has reported.
Vienna delivered pretax profit of E143.3 million in the first six months of the year, while consolidated premiums written rose by 15% to E3.03 billion.
Despite the strong life business performance, the market was unimpressed by the 14% rise in pretax profit, Reuters states, and as a result Vienna Insurance’s share price fell 1%.
While life insurance income more than doubled, the insurer’s overall profit was held back by a high frequency of claims in its property insurance division following a period of bad weather.
Although the market was underwhelmed by its results, the company’s chief executive Guenter Geyer still feels Vienna Insurance will achieve its goal of E290 million in pretax profits for the full year.