29 May 2001
Press Release
Munich Re Group on a very successful course: profit for 2000 up 54% to €1.75bn
/ Dividend of €1.25 proposed (previous year: €0.95) / Result for 2001
should again show double-digit growth / Further enhancement of earnings expected
from cooperation with HVB
The Chairman of Munich Re's Board of Management, Dr. Hans-Jürgen Schinzler,
expects the future exclusive cooperation throughout Germany between the Munich
Re Group and the HypoVereinsbank (HVB) Group to have a sustained positive impact
on earnings. At Munich Re's balance sheet press conference, Schinzler said that
the collaboration between the two groups had been most successful in recent
years and would now be systematically extended. In the business year 2000 the
Munich Re Group showed a 54% increase in its profit for the year, which totalled
€1.75bn (1999: €1.13bn). A dividend of €1.25 (0.95) per share
will be proposed at the Munich Reinsurance Company's AGM. For the current business
year 2001 the Group is reckoning with consolidated premium income of €33bn
(business year 2000: €31bn). Barring any exceptional developments, there
will again be double-figure growth in the result for the year.
Whereas the previous year was badly hit by natural catastrophes, Munich Re's
business year 2000 took its cue from the good business year 1998. The Group
was able to grow its premium income more strongly than expected and also to
increase its profit for the year very considerably. The main figures were already
published in March.
Altogether, gross premium increased by 13.5% to €31.1bn (27.4bn). Around
€1.4bn (0.3bn) of this is due to changes in exchange rates. New subsidiaries
contributed €470m (32m). Adjusted to eliminate these factors, premium growth
totalled €1.9bn (1.6bn) or 6.7% (6.1%).
54% (51%) of the premium income derived from reinsurance. Here premiums
grew by 19.2% (8.6%) to €18.3bn (15.4bn). The main contributors to this
steep rise were life, motor and fire business or, in regional terms, the rest
of Europe and North America.
In primary insurance (ERGO Insurance Group, Karlsruher, Europäische)
Munich Re was also able to expand its business considerably: premium income
climbed to €14.4bn (13.5bn), representing an increase of 6.8% (6.5%). The
primary insurers continue to grow more quickly than the German market as a whole.
Group investments grew in the year under review by over 5% to more than
€159bn (151bn). The investment result rose by 28% to €12.2bn (9.5bn),
with the Group's primary insurers in particular taking advantage of high prices
on the stock markets in spring 2000 to realize capital gains. Besides this,
the first-time consolidation of the investment funds classifying as "special
funds" had a positive impact on earnings.
MEAG MUNICH ERGO AssetManagement GmbH, set up by Munich Re and ERGO in 1999,
commenced operations in the year under review. It is responsible for the
asset
management
of all the insurance companies in the Group and also manages
investments for third parties. Munich Re sees substantial potential for expanding
this business by winning institutional and private investors. According to Schinzler,
the trend towards more private provision will present the Group's life insurers
and MEAG with additional business opportunities.
Earnings before interest, tax and amortization of goodwill (EBITA) improved
by 43.6% to €2.6bn (1.8bn) in the business year 2000. Amortization of goodwill
increased to €145m (120m), particularly because of the purchase of Alte
Leipziger Europa and Bayerische Vita. At €399m (383m) tax expenses showed
only a slight change.
The consolidated profit improved by 54.5% to €1.75bn (1.13bn). In the
previous year, with the high claims costs from natural catastrophes, it had
fallen by 5.6% compared with 1998. The result for 2000 was positively influenced
by the first-time consolidation of the special funds and the reduction of the
corporation tax rate in Germany, which contributed €180m and €320m
respectively. In 1999 there had also been special factors; on an adjusted basis,
the profit for the year increased by 50% to €1.25bn (0.8bn).
Prospects for 2001 and first-quarter figures: "Following on from the good
Group result for 2000"
For the whole business year 2001, at unchanged currency parities, Munich Re
expects consolidated premium income to reach €33bn (31bn).
In the first quarter, the premium income written by the reinsurers in the Group
was up 24.1% to €5.0bn. Life business is again proving to be the main driver
of growth. Not only is the acquisition of CNA Financial Corporation's life reinsurance
portfolio by Munich American Reassurance Company having a significant effect,
but also expansion of business in the UK and Canada. In non-life business, higher
prices - like those achieved for the renewal of treaties at the beginning
of 2001 - and larger market shares are contributing to an appreciable rise
in gross premium income. If claims costs are within the normal range in the
current business year, the combined ratio (112.1% in the first quarter 2001;
115.3% for the whole of 2000) should fall considerably.
In the primary insurance group, premium growth for the current year will be
higher than in the business year 2000. Premium income in the first quarter 2001
rose by 9% to €4.3bn. In particular, life insurance premiums will receive
a strong boost from the first-time consolidation of Bayerische Vita for a full
business year. The proportion of non-German business will thus increase substantially,
as planned.
The Group's result prospects for the current year 2001 are also good: unless
there are any exceptional developments, the growth rate will again be in two
figures. Even adjusted to eliminate special factors, both the operating result
and the result for the year will follow on from the very large profit of last
year.
Munich Re in its twelfth decade: successful through change
The business year 2000 marked the end of a decade in which Munich Re made striking
advances: with the acquisition of American Re, it strengthened its leading global
position in reinsurance; with the formation and expansion of the ERGO Insurance
Group, it underpinned its interests in primary insurance; and with the development
of MEAG, it reinforced its claim to being one of the best operators in the field
of asset management as well. Cooperation with the HVB Group will offer additional
opportunities for expansion and for earnings in a range of business segments.
The figures provide proof of Munich Re's success: in the past ten years Group
premium income rose from €7.3bn to €31bn and the Group profit from
€46m to €1.75bn. Munich Re's market capitalization, and thus shareholders'
assets, grew over this period from €8bn to €67bn. The dividend has
been raised eight times since 1990. It is proposed to increase the dividend
payment for the business year 2000 to €1.25 from €0.95 in the previous
year. This will raise the amount distributed to €221m, as compared with
€34m at the beginning of the nineties.
Munich Re Group 2000
Key figures (IAS)
|
|
|
2000
€
|
Previous year
€
|
Change
in %
|
|
Gross premiums
|
bn
|
31.1
|
27.4
|
13.5
|
|
Result before amortization of goodwill
|
m
|
2,615
|
1,821
|
43.6
|
|
Tax
|
m
|
399
|
383
|
4.2
|
|
Minority interests in earnings
|
m
|
321
|
185
|
73.5
|
|
Profit for the year
|
m
|
1,750
|
1,133
|
54.5
|
|
Investments
|
bn
|
159.4
|
150.9
|
5.6
|
|
Shareholders' equity
|
bn
|
23.6
|
18.5
|
27.9
|
|
Net underwriting provisions
|
bn
|
131.5
|
123.5
|
6.5
|
|
Staff at 31st December
|
|
36,481
|
33,245
|
9.7
|
Our registered shares
|
|
|
2000
|
Previous year
|
Change
in %
|
|
Earnings per share
|
|
9.89
|
6.45
|
53.3
|
|
Dividend per share
|
|
1.25
|
0.95
|
31.6
|
|
Amount distributed
|
m
|
221
|
168
|
31.5
|
|
Share price at 31st December
|
|
380.0
|
251.8
|
50.9
|
|
Munich Re's market capitalization at 31st December
|
bn
|
67.2
|
44.5
|
51.0
|
A. M. Best, Standard & Poor's and Moody's have each
awarded Munich Re their top rating.