The growth was carried in particular by the increase of 23.4% to 542.3 million euro in the property and casualty insurance. Adjusted for the business revenue of the company taken over in Poland in mid 2001– whose values are not included in the comparative figures of the previous year – the premium volume written increased by 13.5% to 498.9 million euro.

In the life assurance sector, the recurring premiums in direct business increased by 11.5% to 346.3 million euro. Single premium and special product business was targeted for further withdrawal in the second quarter because of profitability and risk considerations, and strategically reduced by 57.5% to 132.1 million euro. In total, the premium revenue for life assurance therefore reduced by 23.0% to 478.4 million euro.

The premium for health insurance increased by 3.5% to 346.3 million euro.

The total benefits paid remained practically at last years level, with a marginal increase of 0.8% to 346.3 million euro.

Through the continued consistent implementation of the ‘increased earnings’ programme, introduced in the preceding year, the trend towards improved actuarial results was successfully continued with the achievement of a combined ratio of below 100%.

The total capital investments of the UNIQA Group Austria – excluding the deposits receivable from the reinsurance business – comprised 11,620.9 million euro (+4.5%) as at the end of June 2002. The current investment income increased by 2.5% to 317.9 million euro in the first six months of this financial year. The worldwide poor performance of the stock markets in the first half-year burdened the financial results with a definite drop in value, whereby the situation is characterised by a high volatility.

The measures introduced to reduce costs were successfully continued in the first half-year 2002. The costs of the Group companies reduced by 16.3% to 182.4 million euro compared to the same period the previous year. 

Outlook
The continued development in this financial year will mainly depend on the situation of the capital markets. As a result of the high market volatility, reliable predictions are difficult from today’s point of view. If no significant recovery of the stock market occurs by year-end, a deterioration of the Group results for the year 2002 is to be expected. From today’s point of view, an unchanged dividend level of 16 cents per share is envisaged for the year 2002.

The catastrophic thunderstorms and floods in large parts of Austria in the middle of the third quarter represent a setback for the actuarial results that up to now showed an excellent development in the current year.