The golden child

The consolidated revenue from premiums at Grupa PZU grew by 15 percent year-on-year and reached zł.11.9 billion after the first three quarters of 2006.

PZU SA's premiums amounted to zł.5.87 billion during that period. However, PZU Życie, which specializes in life insurance, proved the star player in the group, as it collected premiums worth zł.5.83 billion by the end of September, almost catching up with its mother company. According to unofficial Puls Biznesu sources, by the end of October, PZU Życie's premiums exceeded those of PZU SA by zł.20 million.

This prediction will be borne out if the tendency seen in the first three quarters continues. PZU SA's premiums after Q3 were 0.4 percent lower than in the corresponding period of the previous year. After Q2 the situation was similar - the mother company's premiums grew by 1.5 percent, in comparison to 37 percent in PZU Życie's case.

According to a PZU Group statement, this growth was the result of "an intensive growth of bancassurance, while maintaining good dynamics in other groups of life insurances (especially in individual and group investment insurances)." The insurance giant points out that this represents a new trend on the market, with a growing interest in insurance products that are treated as investment tools.

PZU SA made a net profit of zł.2.8 billion in the first nine months of this year, growing by 13 percent in comparison to Q1-Q3 2005. This, however, includes a zł.1.4 billion dividend from PZU Życie's 2005 results. This is not included in the group's official results, which stand at zł.2.7 billion. PZU Życie's net profit rose by 35 percent year-on-year to reach zł.1.3 billion after Q3 2006.