-   Premiums increased in the first quarter of 2004 by 26%
-   The R+V subsidiaries taken over in Poland and Slovakia add further impetus to growth in Central Europe
-   70 million increase in profit planned by 2006
-  Substantial improvement to profit expected in 2004

Premiums rose by nearly 26% in the first quarter
In the first quarter of 2004 the fully consolidated, earned premiums as per IAS improved by 25.8% to €817.4 million. The property and casualty insurance business increased by 38.3% to €299.7 million and life insurance business rose by 29.7% to €334.1 million. Consolidated health insurance premiums increased by 4.7 % to €183.6 million.

The Group's international companies increased their premium income by 58.4% in the first quarter and contributed €99.7 million to consolidated premium volumes.

Because the former AXA companies in Austria, Hungary and Liechtenstein – in line with the IAS guidelines – were not included in the group of consolidated companies until 7.1.2003, the values for these companies were not recorded in the first quarter of the previous year.

The completely quarterly report for the UNIQA Group will be published on May 28, 2004.

Growth course maintained in Central Europe
In recent days the Polish supervisory authorities have given their approval to the take-over of FILAR S.A. by the Polish UNIQA company. With the integration of FILAR into the Group, UNIQA will take on the 4^th position in the Polish insurance market, and with the company's unique business relationships to residential builder cooperatives acquires a unique distribution method.
The Slovakian company R+V poistovna in Bratislava will also be integrated into the UNIQA Group in 2004. In addition to its own network of advisers, the company has also established itself successfully as a bank insurance company and is growing quickly, especially in life insurance. UNIQA and R+V together hold around a 5% market share of the Slovakian insurance market.
The UNIQA Group reorganization plan for Mannheimer Versicherung, which was approved by the vast majority of the company's shareholders envisages increasing the capital of Mannheimer Holding AG by €79.5 million by June 30, 2004 as long as there are no more actions for rescission of the decisions. Dr. Klein comments that "we have instructed our lawyers to hold discussions with those placing the actions for rescission in order to ascertain the objective of these actions. Once these meetings with the plaintiffs have been concluded our lawyers will produce a proposed solution, which UNIQA will discuss and approve."

Planned, further €70 million improvement in profit by 2006 – International share expanded – Group ROE should increase to 15%
"The foundations have already been laid for sustainable increases in the UNIQ Group's profitability. We plan to increase the consolidated profits by a further €70 million over the next three years. So we will continue the program to optimize the domestic profits and expand it to the international subsidiaries. The further reduction of the cost ratio, additional improvements in productivity and reducing the claim ratio are at the heart of this program," explains Dr. Klien.

A key engine for sustained growth by the UNIQA Group will be strengthening the market position in central Europe. Therefore the international companies should contribute 20% to the Group premiums and 15% to consolidated profits by 2006. Achieve and securing a 3-5% market share in each of the EEC countries and further developments in the Group strategy, combined with a homogeneous corporate identity, will create the conditions for this.

A further key target is increasing the Group's IAS ROE to 15% by 2005 (2003: 11.2%).

Substantial improvement to profit expected in 2004
In the current year UNIQA expects a further improvement in the actuarial results, reductions in the cost rate and further improvements in results.
"As long as there are no large-scale natural disasters or unusual large claims, and the capital markets at least remain stable, from today's perspective we expect an OR for 2004 that is substantially above that of the previous year," explains Dr. Klien.