Shares of Allianz SE were gaining around 2 percent after the German insurance and asset management company said Friday that it expects higher operating profit for fiscal 2021, despite reporting weak earnings in the fourth quarter and in fiscal 2020. Further, Asset Management revenues and total assets under management or AuM increased from last year.<\/p>\n
The company also maintained its dividend of 9.60 euros per share for 2020.<\/p>\n
Allianz said its financial performance in 2020 has been remarkably robust across all business<\/span> segments, despite the COVID-19 pandemic impact mainly in the Property-Casualty commercial lines. <\/p>\n Chief Executive Officer of Allianz, said, “We are hence in a good position to deliver on our 2021 ambition.”<\/p>\n For fiscal 2021, the company projects operating profit of 12.0 billion euros, plus or minus 1 billion euros. This is compared to 2020 operating profit of 10.8 billion euros including negative COVID-19 impact of 1.3 billion euros.<\/p>\n For the year, net income attributable to shareholders was down 14 percent to 6.8 billion euros and total revenues decreased 1.3 percent to 140 billion euros.<\/p>\n For the fourth quarter, attributable net income declined 2.2 percent to 1.82 billion euros from last year’s 1.86 billion euros. Earnings per share were 4.39 euros, down from 4.44 euros a year ago.<\/p>\n Operating profit, however, increased 8.2 percent to a 3.0 billion euros from prior year’s 2.8 billion euros, driven by all business segments.<\/p>\n Total quarterly revenues were 35.6 billion euros, nearly stable compared to the previous year’s 35.5 billion euros.<\/p>\n Property-Casualty business segment revenues decreased to 12.7 billion euros from last year’s 13.1 billion euros driven by Allianz Partners, Italy, and Euler Hermes.<\/p>\n In the the Life\/Health insurance segment, the present value of new business premiums or PVNBP grew to 19.0 billion euros from 18.1 billion euros a year ago, due to the sales growth in Italy and France.<\/p>\n Asset Management operating revenues grew 3.4 percent as a result of higher AuM-driven revenues.<\/p>\n Total assets under management increased to 2,389 billion euros in 2020, an all-time high.<\/p>\n In the fourth quarter, third-party assets under management increased by 42 billion euros compared to the end of the third quarter of 2020.<\/p>\n In Germany, Allianz shares were trading at 197.84 euros, up 1.53 percent. <\/p>\n