FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Germany's Allianz on Wednesday posted a better-than-expected 22% rise in third-quarter net profit, helped by lower claims from natural catastrophes, and it gave a rosier outlook for 2024.
The property and casualty segment was cited as a particular area of strength because claims from natural catastrophes were down from a year ago, though such damages remained high, the company said.
Allianz, among Europe's largest financial services groups and operator of the giant PIMCO brand, reported net profit attributable to shareholders of 2.47 billion euros ($2.62 billion) in the three months through September, compared with a profit of 2.02 billion euros a year earlier. The figure surpassed a 2.37 billion euro consensus forecast.
Allianz said its 2024 operating profit would now land in the upper half of its target range of between 13.8 billion and 15.8 billion euros.
($1 = 0.9422 euros)
(Reporting by Tom Sims and Alexander Huebner, editing by Thomas Seythal)