Written premiums in Romania fell to 313.01 million euro ($445 million), while those in the other CEE markets rose to 300.66 million euro, VIG said in a statement.
The results in the first half of 2009 for the VIG group of companies in the other CEE markets include the following countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine and Hungary, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The companies of the group in Albania and Macedonia were included for the first time, VIG said in the statement.
The pre-tax profit of VIG's companies in Romania reached 12.07 million euro in the January-June period. “A comparison with prior-year data is not conclusive due to the de-consolidation of Unita,” VIG said.
Companies in other CEE markets, excluding Croatia, recorded a pre-tax profit of 5.13 million euro in the first half. “In Croatia, a one-off provision of about 10 million euro had to be recognized in the financial statements due to a regulatory reduction of the guaranteed interest on life insurance contracts. This had an adverse effect on the result,” VIG said without providing further details.
“The economic situation differs from country to country, and our wide geographical diversification safeguards the stability of our Group even in difficult times,” VIG CEO Guenter Geyer said in the statement.
The company’s consolidated pre-tax profit increased by an annual 7.0% to 230 million euro in the first half.
In Romania, VIG owns general insurance companies Omniasig, Asirom and BCR Asigurari and life insurers BCR Asigurari de Viata and Omniasig Asigurari de Viata.
The Austrian group controls two Bulgarian general insurance companies, Bulgarski Imoti and Bulstrad, and life insurer Bulstrad Life.
In Serbia it runs Wiener Staedtische Osiguranje. VIG operates in Croatia via four units, Kvarner Vienna Insurance Group, Cosmopilitan Life, Helios Vienna Insurance Group and Erste Osiguranje Vienna Insurance Group.
