Allianz says its Australia property and casualty (P&C) business more than doubled its operating profit last year to €307 million ($483 million) from €128 million ($201.8 million) in 2020.

The solid results from the Australian division contributed to the insurer’s increase in overall P&C operating profit to €5.7 billion ($9 billion), up from €4.4 billion ($6.9 billion) a year earlier.

“The primary contributors to the increase were Allianz Partners, AGCS and Australia,” the insurer says in reference to the double-digit percent rise in group-wide P&C operating earnings.

Australia P&C net premiums earned went up to €3.1 billion ($4.9 billion) from €2.69 billion ($4.2 billion) and the combined ratio improved to 93.4% from 99.3%.

“Our [overall] underwriting result reflected a recovery from the impact of Covid-19 in 2020,” Allianz said.

“Lower attritional losses and a better run-off result offset higher claims from natural catastrophes.”

Allianz says group-wide operating increased 24.6% to €13.4 billion ($21.1 billion) but net profit declined 2.9% to €6.6 billion ($10.4 billion) because of a one-time pre-tax provision of €3.7 billion ($5.8 billion) in anticipation of settlements with major investors in the AllianzGI US structured Alpha funds and in light of current discussions with US governmental authorities.

For this year the insurer is aiming for an operating profit of €13.4 billion, plus or minus €1 billion ($1.58 billion)