Will Storm Losses Cause Allianz Stocks To Fall?

 | Jan 05, 2016 06:25AM ET

Indemnification for storm losses may cut incomes

The GDV group forecasts the amount of claims against the German insurers may rise to 2.2bn euros amid the natural disasters in 2015. The sum is far above the 1.6bn euros a year earlier. Will the major German insurer Allianz (DE:ALVG) SE see its stocks falling?

The Niklas storm alone raging in Germany in March 2015 brought indemnification claims for 750mln euros. Currently the Frank storm is raging in Ireland and Great Britain being already the 6th named storm in 2 months. The insurer Allianz has published a number of advices of flood and strong wind protection for those in the storm area. The gross loss may amount to 3.3bn pounds. Allianz is operating in 70 countries worldwide, including UK and Ireland. However, they account only for 4% of the company’s revenue. The losses may become even more severe in case the storm covers the mainland Europe. Another negative for the Germany’s insurers comes from the active inflow of European banks capital to the bonds market after the monetary stimulus program was implemented by ECB. They begin competing with the insurers for secure investment assets and projects which leads to lower returns. Allianz gets consistent operational and net profit. Its stocks are traded with Р/Е of 11 which is close to the average in insurance sector. This significantly limits the potential for stock prices fall. The company’s accounts for Q4 2015 will be released in mid-February 2016.