BUCHAREST (Romania), November 12 (SeeNews) – The net profit of Romanian insurer Astra-Uniqa jumped to 4.2 million lei ($1.5 million/977,100 euro) in the first nine months of 2009 from a 1.3 million lei net profit a year earlier, the company said on Thursday.
The company's gross premium income reached 611.4 million lei through September, up by 22% on the year, the insurer said in statement. General insurance accounted for 604.2 million lei of the total premium income, including 428 million lei in car insurance premiums.
The company paid claims worth 232 million lei through September, 16% up from the same period in 2008.
Astra-Uniqa said earlier in April it expects a net profit of 9.17 million lei this year, up from 3.49 million lei in 2008. The insurer also expects its gross premium income to rise by 19% to 773.6 million lei this year.
Astra-Uniqa (www.astrasig.ro), set up in 1991, held a 7.45% share of the Romanian insurance market last year. Austrian insurance group UNIQA holds a 27% stake in the insurer.
The group's southeast European operations include Slovenia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Serbia, Ukraine, Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo.
Romania's insurance market grew by a nominal 2.99% on the year to 4.55 billion lei in gross written premium in the first half of 2009, according to preliminary data from Romania's insurance regulator, CSA.
(1 euro=4.2984 Romanian lei)