“Munich Re, the world’s biggest reinsurer, headed for the biggest increase in six months after saying it will pay 12 percent more in dividends and fourth- quarter profit beat analysts’ forecasts.
Munich Re proposed raising the dividend for last year to 7 euros a share from 6.25 euros in 2011, the Munich-based company said in an e-mailed statement today. Net income after minority interests fell to about 480 million euros ($646 million) from 627 million euros a year earlier, according to preliminary earnings. That exceeded the 448.3 million-euro average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
“Our core business in insurance and reinsurance is healthy, while the claims burden from major losses was slightly below average,” Chief Financial Officer Joerg Schneider said in the statement. “We also achieved a good investment result.”
Munich Re rose 2.1 percent to 136.90 euros at 11:37 a.m. in Frankfurt, heading for the biggest advance since Aug. 3. The shares have climbed 29 percent over the past year, beating gains of 15 percent for the Stoxx 600 Insurance Index (SXIP) and valuing the company at 24.6 billion euros.
Reinsurers, who help insurers such as Allianz SE (ALV) and AXA SA (CS) shoulder risks, benefited from decreasing disaster claims, growing life reinsurance premiums and a recovery in capital markets last year, offsetting negative effects from low interest rates….”
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