Allianz Q1 Operating Profits up 7.2% to $3.9 Billion

Germany’s Allianz Group increased its profitability in the first quarter of 2007, posting an operating profit of €2.87 billion ($3.897 billion) a 7.2 percent gain over the €2.677 billion ($3.635 billion) earned in Q1 2006. Total revenues for the period declined slightly – 1.1 percent – from €29.6 billion ($40.2 billion) to €29.3 billion ($39.8 billion).

Net income for the quarter, which includes capital gains/losses, rose 82.1 percent to €3.24 billion ($4.4 billion) compared to €1.779 billion ($2.416 billion) in Q1 2006, mainly due to profitable sales of assets of around €2 billion ($2.716 billion). Allianz said it would use the funds mainly to finance its purchase of the minority interests of French subsidiary AGF.

Allianz did note that “as a result of the claims costs from storm Kyrill totaling €340 million [$$462 million], the operating profit in the Property and Casualty business declined by €119 million [$162 million] compared to the previous year’s quarter. Operating profit of all other segments improved.”

Allianz also announced that “Dresdner Bank lifted its operating revenues by 7.4 percent to over €2.0 billion [$2.716 billion] compared with the strong first quarter of 2006. Here the key driver was net interest income, which increased by 55.7 percent to €900 million [$1.222 billion]. This includes a one-off equity pick-up of €171 million [$232 million] from the sale of subsidiaries at an associated company. The operating profit rose by 28.0 percent from €529 million [$718 million] to €677 million [$919 million]. Ongoing efficiency improvements and a higher portfolio quality have paid off. In the traditionally strong first quarter the cost-income ratio improved from 73.7 to 66.9 percent.”

Helmut Perlet, CFO of Allianz SE, noted: “In view of the non-operating factors influencing the first quarter it would be a mistake to project the result for the first three months to the year as a whole. However, with this excellent start we have a firm footing to achieve our targets for 2007.”

The full report, additional information and replays of the investors’ conference call may be obtained on the Allianz web site at: http://www.allianz.com.