UNIQA sees drop in earnings
Insurance firm UNIQA today (Tues) reported a drop in operating earnings.The company said its operating earnings had fallen 9.5 per cent from 90 million Euros in 2008 to 81.5 million Euros in 2009.It added, however, that its 39.5 million Euros in operating earnings in the fourth quarter of 2009 had been the highest quarterly figure in one and a half years.Firm chief Konstantin Klien said 2009 had been a tough year owing to turbulence on world stock markets and in Eastern European countries as well as bad weather.He added that the firms revenue had nonetheless risen to 715 million Euros from 189 million Euros in 2008 at the starts of the recession.Klien said UNIQAs 1.6 billion Euros of own capital at the end of last year had exceeded the minimum requirement by 60 per cent and said the firm was not planning any more capital increases after last autumns that brought in 160 million Euros.He said UNIQA would present final figures for last year at the end of April.