Frankfurt: German reinsurance giant Munich Re said on Tuesday it is lowering its full-year forecasts after difficulties in its investment result hit earnings in the first three months.
“The result for the first quarter is below our expectations,” said chief financial officer, Joerg Schneider.
“We had to cope with significant strains on our investment result,” Schneider said.
“The decrease in profits in the first quarter has dampened our optimism with regard to the annual result.”
As a result, Munich Re was now pencilling in full-year net profit of €2.3 billion (Dh9.6 billion or $2.6 billion), “which is at the lower end of our predicted profit guidance”.
Previously, the group had targeted net profit of €2.3 billion-€2.8 billion.
Munich Re had already indicated last week that its first-quarter results would be down on the year as a result of financial market volatility and low interest rates.
First-quarter net profit plunged to €430 million from €790 million a year earlier.
Underlying or operating profit fell by 27.1 per cent to €726 million and gross premium income declined by four per cent to €12.51 billion, Munich Re said.
