Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft Aktiengesellschaft in München / Dividend/Share Buyback
30.01.2008
Release of an Ad hoc announcement according to § 15 WpHG, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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Record profit of 3.9bn expected for 2007
Board of Management to propose dividend of 5.50 per share (previous year:
4.50)
Share buy-back
'Subprime' expenses of less than 10m in fourth quarter
On the basis of key preliminary figures, Munich Re clearly surpassed its
previous profit targets for 2007, achieving a fourth record result in
succession of 3.9bn (previous year: 3.5bn). The Group thus even exceeded
its increased profit guidance of 3.53.8bn published in August 2007.
Subject to the approval of the Supervisory Board, the dividend proposal of
the Board of Management at the Annual General Meeting will be 5.50 (4.50)
per share, which would given the number of shares currently entitled to a
dividend result in an overall payout of around 1,124m (988m) to
shareholders. The share buy-back of over 2bn launched in May 2007 has
already been concluded. More than 15 million shares were acquired at an
average price of 131.96. This means that in the past 14 months, a total of
3bn has been returned to shareholders through share buy-backs. As
announced in May 2007, further shares with a volume of 3bn are to be
repurchased by 2010, at least 1bn of these by the 2009 Annual General
Meeting.
US mortgage crisis and turbulence on the stock exchanges: Munich Res
prudent investment policy pays off
The crisis in the US subprime mortgage market and the subsequent turbulence
on the global credit and financial markets has resulted in relatively low
expenses for Munich Re in 2007.
In the fourth quarter, the Group recorded disposal losses of under 10m on
financial instruments with exposure to the US subprime mortgage segment.
Disposals have reduced the Groups portfolio of subprime-exposed
investments to 0.34bn (30 September 2007: 0.37bn), or less than 0.2% of
the overall investment portfolio.
Munich Res conservative investment policy is also reflected in its
portfolio of fixed-interest investments, totalling approximately 135bn: a
good 45 % of these are government bonds or similarly secure instruments for
which public institutions are liable. Around 30% are securities and debt
instruments with top-quality collateralisation, mainly German pfandbriefs.
Nearly 20% are corporate or bank bonds or deposits with banks all with very
good ratings. Only 4% (5.5bn) of the fixed-interest securities are
structured credit products, of which only 0.34bn as stated above have
subprime exposure.
In insurance business, the Group has received only provisional loss
notifications in connection with the subprime crisis, without any specific
claims data, so it is still too early for a sound estimate. Liability
insurance in particular (both D&O and professional indemnity) could be
affected by lawsuits against financial institutions. Munich Re has made the
necessary provision for this in its 2007 financial statements.
Reinsurance: Munich Re continuing to compete successfully
At 1 January 2008, about two-thirds of the Munich Re Groups treaty
business (i.e. without facultative reinsurance) in property-casualty
reinsurance was up for renewal. This corresponds to a premium volume of
around 8.5bn.
Munich Re succeeded in limiting the average price erosion in renewed
business to a very satisfactory 2.8%. Treaties with a total premium volume
of 1.2bn were not renewed, but the Group was able to partially make up for
this business in more attractive segments. Altogether, the renewals
resulted in a 4% decline in premium volume (to 8.1bn) from renewal
business, also owing to the planned reduction of a major individual treaty
relationship.
Further details of the treaty renewals in reinsurance and the development
of new life business may be obtained from the press release.
As planned, details of Munich Res provisional figures for the 2007
financial year will be published on 25 February 2008.
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Information and Explaination of the Issuer to this News:
This announcement contains forward-looking statements that are based on
current assumptions and forecasts of the management of Munich Re. Known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material
differences between the forward-looking statements given here and the
actual development, in particular the results, financial situation and
performance of our Company. The Company assumes no liability to update
these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or
developments.
DGAP 30.01.2008
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Language: English
Issuer: Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft Aktiengesellschaft in München
Königinstraße 107
80802 München
Deutschland
Phone: +49(0) 89 3891-0
Fax: +49(0) 89 399 056
E-mail: shareholder@munichre.com
Internet: www.munichre.com
ISIN: DE0008430026
WKN: 843002
Indices: DAX, EURO STOXX 50
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard), München;
Freiverkehr in Berlin, Hannover, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart,
Hamburg; Terminbörse EUREX; Foreign Exchange(s) Mailand
End of News DGAP News-Service
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DGAP-Adhoc: Record profit of 3.9bn expected for 2007
| Source: EQS Group AG