Alm. Brand A/S – Annual Report 2011

Alm. Brand A/S 

28.02.2012 08:24
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Alm. Brand's non-life insurance activities reported a highly satisfactory
full-year performance, and I believe our combined ratio of 92.3 and expense
ratio of 15.9 will rank among the best in the industry. Our pension activities
also performed strongly in a difficult market, recording a significant increase
in pension contributions. We are extremely pleased with this performance,'
underlines Chief Executive Søren Boe Mortensen and continues: 

'However, we made substantial impairment writedowns on the bank's lending in
the fourth quarter, most of which were due to a change of methodology. In
addition, the deteriorating economic conditions also triggered writedowns.' 







  -- Alm. Brand A/S generated a profit before losses and writedowns of DKK 393
     million, against an expected profit of DKK 325 million. After losses and
     writedowns in the bank, the company incurred a loss of DKK 601 million.
     
     More than half of the loss for the year was due to a change in the
     methodology used to calculate Alm. Brand Bank's impairment writedowns.
  -- The group's non-life insurance activities delivered a very strong
     performance, posting a higher-than-expected profit of DKK 460 million.
     
     The combined ratio was 92.3, of which the expense ratio accounted for 15.9.
  -- The pension activities produced a highly satisfactory and better than
     expected profit of DKK 137 million.
     
     In spite of the very difficult conditions in the financial markets, the
     life insurance company generated a return of 9.0% on policyholders' funds
     and a bonus rate of 4.5%. Accordingly, there was no need to introduce a
     transfer and surrender charge.
     
     Total payments into pension schemes managed by the group grew by 19.5%. 
  -- The banking activities were hit by the deteriorating economic conditions
     and turbulent financial markets, which led to substantial capital losses
     and writedowns.
     
     Approximately DKK 400 million of the impairment writedowns made in the
     fourth quarter were, however, attributable to a changed methodology. The
     bank had already reserved capital in its solvency need with a view to
     countering this development and, as a result, this had a limited effect on
     the bank's overall capital. The method used is expected to comply with the
     Danish Financial Supervisory Authority's future method of calculation.
     
     The bank posted a highly unsatisfactory loss of DKK 160 million before
     losses and writedowns. Including losses and writedowns, the bank incurred a
     loss of DKK 1,154 million.
  -- The Alm. Brand Group expects to generate a profit before losses and
     writedowns of DKK 450 million in 2012.



Other highlights



  -- The underlying combined ratio of the non-life insurance company again
     developed very favourably, ending 2011 at 80.2, against 85.5 a year
     earlier.
     
     Premiums rose by 0.2%, which was in line with expectations in a declining
     market.
  -- The performance of Alm. Brand Liv og Pension was lifted by positive expense
     and risk results as well as by a strong investment return.
     
     Due to the positive results, the rate of interest paid on policyholders'
     savings ranged between 3.65% and 5.30%, which is one of the best in the
     industry.
     
     The bonus rate of the interest rate group in which new agreements are
     written was 6.9% at 1 January 2012.
  -- In addition to the impact from losses and writedowns, the bank's
     performance was affected by high funding costs and capital losses as a
     result of the turmoil in the financial markets.
     
     On a more positive note, the bank's costs continued to track a downward
     trend, declining by around 10% relative to 2010.

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 Tuesday, 28 February
2012 at 10.00 a.m. 



http://storm.zoomvisionmamato.com/player/almbrand/objects/2k0fs9xp/



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 annual report is attached in pdf-format.
News Source: NASDAQ OMX



28.02.2012 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - 
a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

DGAP's Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements,
Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.
Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Language:     English
Company:      Alm. Brand A/S
              
               
              Denmark
Phone:        
Fax:          
E-mail:       
Internet:     
ISIN:         DK0015250344
WKN:          
 
End of Announcement                             DGAP News-Service
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------