Reuters: Financial Services and Real Estate: Generali sees first quarter premiums up 6.1 pct

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Generali sees first quarter premiums up 6.1 pct Apr 28th 2012, 16:54 TRIESTE, Italy, April 28 | Sat Apr 28, 2012 12:54pm EDT TRIESTE, Italy, April 28 (Reuters) - Italy's Assicurazioni Generali, Europe's third largest insurer, sees first quarter premiums growing 6.1 percent to 19.8 billion euros based on preliminary results, it said on Saturday at its annual shareholders' meeting. "During the first three months of the year, operating results posted good performance across all business segments, casualty, life, and financial," it said. Generali has been hit hard by the deepening of the euro zone crisis due to its Greek bond holdings and its exposure to Italian markets. Its 2011 results, released in March, were hit by impairment losses worth 1 billion euros on Greek bonds and other holdings. The insurer's operating result of 3.9 billion euros in 2011 was below the bottom of its target range. It set a new 2012 target at 3.9 to 4.5 billion euros. Weak 2011 net profit forced Generali to cut its dividend to 0.20 euros per share from 0.45 euros for 2010. Company CEO Giovanni Perissinotto told shareholders during the meeting he believes the company can return to its habitual dividend policy soon. Shareholders approved the company's results in a routine meeting that provided little of the colour and fireworks of meetings past. Much of the debate was taken up by questions from small shareholders about a press interview with shareholder Leonardo Del Vecchio that appeared Saturday in Italy's largest daily Corriere della Sera, in which he sharply criticized the insurer's share price performance and suggested it needed new management. Del Vecchio, with a 3 percent stake, voted to approve the company's accounts and in support of management along with the rest of the shareholders. It was the first meeting not attended by executives from Mediobanca, the investment bank that holds 13 percent of Generali. Mediobanca CEO Alberto Nagel resigned from Generali's board last week in compliance with an Italian law that forbids people from holding more than one board seat in Italy's financial companies. Perissinotto reiterated plans to buy up the 50 percent it does not already own in Generali PPF Holding, a joint venture operating in 13 countries in Eastern Europe. The company believes will cost it about 2.5 billion euros, Perissinotto said on Saturday. "We will decide in the second half of 2014," he said. To finance the purchase, the insurer will use the 835 million euros in liquidity from its recent sale of Migdal as well as cash from other future asset sales. "We believe we will be able to face this expense without help or a capital increase," he said. Perissinotto said the insurer plans to leave the shareholder group that controls Italian publisher RCS Mediagroup. "I have received a mandate to do this," he said. (Reporting by Jennifer Clark; Editing by Catherine Evans) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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