Alm. Brand A/S – Interim report for the first quarter of 2012

5/16/2012 2:22 AM EST

Alm. Brand A/S
Quarterly report

Alm. Brand A/S – Interim report for the first quarter of 2012


  -- Alm. Brand posted a profit of DKK 167 million before losses and writedowns.
     After losses and writedowns, the profit was DKK 82 million.
     It is positive that the overall group is again generating a profit,
     although the reported profit was still not satisfactory.
  -- The group's non-life insurance activities delivered a very strong
     performance, posting a higher-than-expected profit of DKK 164 million.
     The combined ratio was 88.9, of which the expense ratio represented 15.7.
     As a result of the strong performance, the full-year profit guidance for
     the group's non-life insurance activities is lifted by DKK 75 million.
  -- Banking activities performed in line with expectations, but the financial
     results nevertheless remained unsatisfactory. Before losses and writedowns,
     Alm. Brand Bank posted a loss of DKK 5 million. After losses and
     writedowns, the bank posted a loss of DKK 90 million.
  -- The group's life insurance activities reported a satisfactory profit of DKK
     19 million. Pension contributions increased by 25%.
     A satisfactory investment return drove up the bonus rate to 6.0%.
  -- The guidance for the full-year profit is lifted by DKK 75 million to a
     profit of DKK 525 million before losses and writedowns.



“We are very pleased to report an overall consolidated profit for Alm. Brand    
 A/S,” said Søren Boe Mortensen, CEO, emphasising “also after losses and        
 writedowns in the bank”. He continued: “It is also very pleasing that the      
 strong, stable performance of our non-life insurance operations allows us to   
 lift our full-year guidance to a profit of DKK 525 million before writedowns.  
 This is definitely a satisfactory step forward for us.”                        
“That being said, let there be no doubt that, although the bank has improved its
 financial performance, the operating profit has yet to reach a satisfactory    
 level and writedowns are still too high. We still have quite a lot of work     
 ahead of us,” Søren Boe Mortensen underlined.                                  



Other highlights



  -- The underlying combined ratio of the non-life insurance company developed
     favourably, ending Q1 2012 at 81.8, against 84.4 in the same period of last
     year.
     Premiums rose by 2.3%, compared with slight negative growth in Q1 2011.
  -- The performance of the group's life insurance activities produced stable
     and good expense and risk results and a good investment return.
     The increase of 25% was driven in particular by a large number of customers
     transferring to Alm. Brand Liv og Pension and taking their existing
     pensions with them.
  -- The bank's costs fell by 2.5% relative to the year-earlier period.
     The bank's performance was favourably impacted by declining costs and by
     capital gains on equities but adversely affected by a low interest margin,
     among other things due to high funding costs and losses and writedowns.

Please direct any questions regarding this announcement to Søren Boe Mortensen,
Chief Executive, on tel. +45 35 47 79 07 or Susanne Biltoft, Head of
Information and Investor Relations, on tel. +45 35 47 76 61. 



Alm. Brand A/S will host a webcast and teleconference on Wednesday, 16 May 2012
at 10.00 a.m. 



http://storm.zoomvisionmamato.com/player/almbrand/objects/wrgkm0a4/



Dial-in instructions for financial analysts: Danish analysts: +45 327 147 67,
US analysts: +1 718 354 1226 and other international analysts: +44 (0) 207 509
5139. 

Yours sincerely,

Alm. Brand A/S



Søren Boe Mortensen
Chief Executive    





The interim report is attached in pdf-format.