Vienna Insurance grosses 3 million euros

Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) saw a 237 million-euro business and a gross profit valued at 3 million euros last year, according to results provided by the group yesterday. Austrian group Vienna Insurance, which controls Omniasig, Omniasig Viata (Omniasig Life), Unita and Agras, posted over 3 million euros in gross profit last year in Romania, six times as high as in 2005, when the group’s total gross profit stood at 0.5 million euros. Last year, the Austrians’ total volume of business, from gross underwritten premiums on the local market, stood at 236.9 million euros, up 74% against 2005. “General insurance and in particular car insurance were the growth catalysts for our business in Romania,” specified Gunther Geyer, general manager and president of the group’s executive committee. Omniasig made the largest contribution to VIG’s business, with gross underwritten premiums worth 152 million euros last year, out of a total of 236.9m euros, while the other companies controlled by VIG in Romania – Omniasig Life Insurance, Unita and Agras, accounted for the remainder. Omniasig was also the largest contributor to VIG’s profit in Romania, with the Austrians, as yet, not given any detailed figures. However, preliminary information indicates that Unita is in the red, while Omniasig is the most profitable of VIG’s four companies. The 74% increase is more than twice as large as the overall increase witnessed on the insurance market last year, which increased 34% to 1.6 billion euros.