Media release: Helvetia Group: Sustainable growth and solid profit

The most important key figures for the first half of 2010 at a glance:

• Total business volume: CHF 4,292 million (first half of 2009: CHF 4,126 million; + 6.4 per cent in currency-adjusted terms)
• Profit after tax: CHF 157 million (first half of 2009: CHF 160 million [*])
• Solvency margin: 219 per cent (31.12.2009: 219 per cent [*])
• More key figures are provided in the appendixof the attached pdf-document

With a profit for the period of CHF 156.8 million (previous year: CHF 160.2 million), Helvetia reported a satisfactory result in a still challenging economic environment, supported by solid technical results as well as its cautious investment policy. Equity has also hardly changed since the beginning of the year in spite of the weak euro and an attractive dividend payment to shareholders. The solvency margin of 219 per cent underscores Helvetia's capital strength.

The consistently good growth of 6.4 per cent in original currency (or 4 per cent in Swiss francs due to exchange rate differences) is very encouraging. At 5.3 per cent and 7.2 per cent respectively, the non-life and life business areas contributed equally to this success. The growth is also broad-based in geographic terms, and all country markets reported positive growth rates.

Stefan Loacker, CEO of Helvetia Group says: «We are very pleased that more and more customers place their confidence in Helvetia and that the good results once again endorse our strategic course.»

Solid investment income and sustainable technical results

All business segments made solid contributions to the Group profit. Thanks to a cautious investment policy and the continuos hedging of its foreign currency exposure, Helvetia did not suffer any serious losses as a result of the weak euro and the falling equity markets. In this environment, the income from investments of CHF 475 million in total (previous year: CHF 515 million) and the annualised return of 3.1 per cent were encouragingly stable.

Both the technical result and the investment result, which was down moderately from the previous year due to currency effects, contributed to the satisfactory profit for the life business of CHF 57.9 million. With a profit contribution of CHF 85.7 million, the non-life business once again proved to be extremely reliable. The slight decline in the result is primarily due to a shift in the claims structure. The increase in the number of small claims compared to the previous year meant that fewer claims incurred could be charged to the reinsurers. Seen overall, Helvetia once again has an excellent net combined ratio of 94 per cent, so that its non-life business is still extremely profitable.

Strategy 2007 to 2010 on the finishing straight

Helvetia will successfully end its 2007 to 2010 strategy period this year. The Group's business volume has improved by more than 30 per cent since 2007 thanks to both organic and acquisitive growth. Helvetia's operating efficiency also improved substantially during the past four years. The successes clocked up with M&As and cooperation partnerships are very impressive: In the past few years, Helvetia has acquired three companies and one transport insurance portfolio and concluded a number of new distribution agreements. These activities have all helped to noticeably improve Helvetia's market position in the countries in question. In spite of the financial market crisis, Helvetia has also achieved its objective of an attractive return on equity with a sustainable multi-year average of more than 10 per cent.

Helvetia 2015+

The results of the past few years confirm the success of Helvetia's business model. The unswerving expansion of this successful course harbours future potential for attractive growth and added value. True to its motto «To excel in growth, profitability and customer loyalty», Helvetia wants to reach out to even more enthusiastic customers in its European core markets with the new «Helvetia 2015+» strategy. Helvetia has been synonymous with reliable insurance services for more than 150 years. Today the Group combines healthy growth with high profitability and boasts a strong capital base. Our strategy focuses on using this stable foundation to sustainably expand our position in the selected country markets,» says CEO Stefan Loacker about the future strategy of Helvetia.

[*] The figures for the first half of 2009 were adjusted following a change in accounting policies.

Remarks

• Today at 09:00 there will be a media conference in German and at 11:30 an analysts' meeting and conference call in English.
• This media release is also available at http://www.helvetia.com/en/media.
• The letter to the shareholders including the half year financial report and the presentation to the media and analysts' conference are available on the internet at http://www.helvetia.com/en/publikationen/ir_infokit-hj.htm with immediate effect.
• You will find the most important key figures in the Fact Sheet in the appendix of the attached pdf-document.