All in all, in the third quarter, too, the improvement of technical results continued. Apart from the welcome growth of insurance premiums, the determined pursuit of profit-increasing measures, as commenced last year, made its contribution, particularly in the fields of health, damage and accident insurance.

In the fields of damage and accident insurance the Group, including the Polish company acquired in mid-2001 – achieved an increase of premiums by 20.6% to EUR 767 million. Results disregarding Poland are also very satisfactory, with a plus of 13.4%. In Austria the increase in premium volume was very satisfactory, with +10.6%, well above the increase in claims met, +5.4%. Thus the improving trend in the insurance business continued. For the Group as a whole, claims paid for damage and accidents rose by 15% to EUR 454.8 million. The catastrophic storms and floods in Austria and the Czech Republic produced claims amounting today, allowing for reinsurance, to EUR 17.2 million.

In the field of life assurance, the volume of current premium income in the first three quarters rose 10.4% to EUR 495 million. From considerations of profit and risk and in order to strengthen the business with current premiums, single-premium policies and special products were deliberately soft-pedalled, so that premiums from these fell by 50.3% to EUR 175.5 million. In total, therefore thepremium volume of life assurance dropped by 16.4% to EUR 670.5 million. Claims paid amounted to EUR 483.5 million (+2,7%).

In health insurance  the positive trend continued with a plus in premiums of EUR 518.2 million, +3.9%.   Conversely, claims paid dropped by 2.6% to EUR 388.4 million. Taking into account an addition to reserves for claims, there is still an increase in the amount paid in claims, but this is less than the increase of premium income.

Total capital investment - disregarding deposits with ceding companies – of UNIQA Group Austria rose by 4.9% and at the end of September had reached a value of EUR 11.7 billion. The amount accounted for by shares was 7.97%. Current investment income rose in comparison with the first nine months of the previous year by 6.3% to EUR 476.9 million. The very negative performance of the stock markets burdened the extraordinary financial result of the Group with a marked decline in values. The highly voluble situation does not currently permit any forecast of depreciation requirements over the year.

Total expense of the Group companies – disregarding commission and taking social capital expenditure – declined by 4.5% to EUR 284 million The Austrian companies were able to reduce their expenses by 7.7%, whilst investment abroad to strengthen the Group's financial position led to an increase of 44.0% to EUR 26.4 million. 

Standard & Poor's confirm "A" rating
In the past few days, Standard & Poor's has reconfirmed UNIQA's financial strength rating as an insurer as "A". At a time difficult for the insurance business, resulting in many downgradings, this is very positive news, and clearly confirms that the Group is on the right track.   

Current quarter and prospects
The further development of results in the current year will largely depend on the situation in the markets. Although some to the decline in the third quarter could be made up in the current quarter, the volatility of the capital markets makes a reliable forecast impossible. If no significant recovery in share prices occurs before the end of the year, a decline in the Group's results is to be expected. As things look at present, the dividend for 2002 will probably remain unchanged.