Allianz SE plans to raise dividend due to rising profit in 2013’s fourth quarter

Allianz SE, which provides financial solutions, insurance services, risk consulting and public investment funds through its segments and subsidiaries, is currently considered as the largest insurer by market value in Europe. The company officially announced that it plans to boost its dividend as its income for the fourth quarter of 2013 increased by 1%, missing analysts estimates. This, however, is reported to be one of the highest operating profits in the entire history of Allianz SE and is believed to be due to substantial return from financial investments, as well as to moderate costs for natural disasters.

Allianz SE made a statement today, revealing that its net income increased from 1.24 billion euros in the fourth quarter of 2012 to 1.26 billion euros (1.72 billion dollars) in the same quarter of 2013. The companys operating profit for the last three months of 2013 was 2.38 billion euros, which makes a 7.5% increase from the results posted for the same period a year earlier.

The company also posted a 10.1-billion euros (13.78-billion-dollar) full-year operating profit, which is said to be 7.8% up. As the Wall Street Journal reported, the company has now put a goal of reaching an operating profit of between 9.5 billion euros (13.0 billion dollars) and 10.5 billion euros in 2014.

Michael Diekmann, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Allianz, described the performance of the company as stable enough in spite of the challenging conditions of the economic environment during the current year. He said for the Wall Street Journal: “The environment will remain challenging in 2014, but our performance shows that we are well positioned with our three-segment strategy.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that a 2013 dividend estimated to 5.30 euros per share was proposed by Allianz SE for 2013. These numbers are boosted by 18% compared to the dividend the company paid for 2011 and 2012, which amounted to 4.50 euros. The payout ratio remains unchanged at 40%.

Currently, the company is negotiating with the Italian UnipolSai Assicurazioni SpA over the purchase of a portfolio of property and casualty insurance policies.

Allianz SE fell by 2.22% to 127.80 euros by 9:08 GMT in Frankfurt, trimming the insurers market capitalization to 59.66 billion euros. The stock is down 1.8% this year.