Zurich Financial's profit falls, suspends buyback

AG reported a below-forecast 15 percent drop in its nine-month business operating profit to $4.2 billion, hit by hurricane claims and capital losses, and suspended share buybacks.

The insurer said its underlying performance was resilient despite 'particularly adverse circumstances' in the third quarter that forced it to write down $595 million for claim payments related to hurricanes Gustav and Ike and record capital losses for shareholders of $1.1 billion.
'At first glance the results look a bit disappointing and the suspension of the buyback programme is hardly going to be received positively, although it's clever to hoard cash reserves,' said analysts at Swiss private bank Wegelin.
The last week has seen a raft of disappointing results from European insurers hit by the financial crisis. Swiss Life warned on profits on Wednesday and cut its dividend, while Dutch group ING (nyse: ING - news - people ) posted its first quarterly loss.
Zurich Financial's share price dipped almost 6 percent at the open but later pared losses and was down 1 percent at 213.80 Swiss francs at 0839 GMT, when the DJ Stoxx European insurance sector index was down 0.4 percent.
'It's a good result compared to other European insurers,' said Sal. Oppenheim analyst Rene Locher. 'I have a 'buy' rating on the share and it remains one of my favourite stocks in the insurance sector.'


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