Allianz Animal Health contributes to strong group performance

Allianz Animal Health’s strong financial performance during the 2009 fiscal year has helped its parent company to achieve improved profit margins.

The Allianz UK group has published its financial breakdown for the 12-month period, during which its pre-tax IFRS operating profit rose by 5.2 per cent on its 2008 level to 203.7 million pounds.

Andrew Torrance, chief executive of Allianz Insurance, highlighted the role of its animal health and legal protection division in this increase, with the unit having delivered an underwriting profit of 16.8 million for the year.

This represented a 17 per cent increase on its 2008 performance, with Mr Torrance stating that the unit has “demonstrated its potential” in the last 12 months.

He added: “There are not many UK companies which grew and outperformed both their revenue and profit plans for 2009, in the midst of the worst economic conditions since the 1930s.”

In November 2009, the group’s animal health insurance brand Petplan allied with its parent company to launch Allianz Practice Protect, a new HR and employment advice service for veterinarians.