Germany's largest insurance group Allianz reports record profits despite a weak economy in many parts of the world. The operating result rose by 6.7 percent to 14.7 billion euros last year, as the Munich-based Dax group announced on Friday. Price increases, with which Allianz passed on the costs of inflation to its customers, played a significant role in this. The profit attributable to shareholders even increased by a third to 8.5 billion euros. Accordingly, Allianz intends to increase this year's dividend by 21 percent to 13.80 euros per share.
CEO Oliver Bäte spoke of a "very, very successful year" and said that the Group had by far the strongest brand in the industry. The development of the share price is one of the Management Board's priorities. In addition to the dividend increase, Bäte had a second message that should please the financial market: in future, the Group, which employs a good 150,000 people worldwide, intends to regularly pay out 60 percent of its profits - instead of half as before. Nevertheless, the stock market reacted with disappointment: Allianz shares fell sharply in Frankfurt by lunchtime, although the DAX as a whole rose. Allianz shares had risen sharply over the past twelve months.
