Dear shareholder, customers and business partners!
|
Christian Konrad Chairman of the Supervisory Board |
In this past financial year, the UNIQA Group earned its highest profits since the founding of the company. This was achieved despite the fact that 2007 can without a doubt be considered one of the most difficult years in some time for financial companies as well as for insurance companies. The turbulence on the capital markets, triggered by the subprime crisis in the USA, has resulted in upheaval on the stock and credit markets in particular. Naturally, this has had a negative effect on the results of the European insurance companies and thus also on the results of the UNIQA Group, as one of the major institutional capital investors. In addition, the considerable losses from the storm Kyrill also weigh on the technical results. The fact that we succeeded in achieving a record result despite these circumstances can be attributed in part to the further improvement in profit from operations. It is also thanks to the diversification of our capital investments in the area of strategic investments. The successful development of this investment segment and, in particular, the positive value increase of our investment in STRABAG SE, one of the leading construction groups in Europe, has allowed us to more than compensate for the aforementioned negative influences and even set aside reserves for the future.
At €2.07, the earnings per share increased by 62% over the previous year. We also intend to share these exceptionally good results with our shareholders by increasing the dividend from 35 cents to 50 cents per share.
The Group companies in Central and Eastern Europe performed particularly positive in the past financial year. In these markets, we succeeded in growing at rates significantly exceeding the market averages and further expanding our market shares. However, we are also aware that we have not yet achieved in all markets the critical size required for our business model. This not only means that we must maintain the above-average organic growth, but that we remain open to additional financially advantageous acquisitions.
In the interests of long-term successful development, the existing strategy of our Group is currently being reviewed with the goal of positioning ourselves appropriately in time for future developments and challenges. Now, in the 10th year of UNIQAs existence, it is time to identify and evaluate the potential success factors for the future and to realign the corporate strategy accordingly.
I would like to thank all our employees for their commitment and hard work during 2007. Special thanks go to Herbert Schimetschek, who will be leaving the UNIQA Supervisory Board at the next Annual General Meeting after having reached the age limit. As one of the founding fathers of UNIQA, Herbert Schimetschek played a central role in the creation of our Group and has been a major force in defining the image of UNIQA over the last ten years in his position as Chairman of the Managing Board and subsequently as a member and Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board.
Vienna, April 2008
Christian Konrad