Zurich Insurance Net capital gains on investments 2012
Best Insurance stock - Zurich Insurance Net capital gains on investments 2012 : Zurich Insurance Group AG, Switzerland�s biggest insurer, said fourth-quarter profit rose 82 percent after higher capital gains on investments. Net income increased to $983 million from $540 million a year earlier, the Zurich-based company said today in a statement. That beat the $521.1 million average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Business operating profit fell to $540 million from $983 million in the year-earlier quarter. Zurich Insurance will keep its dividend unchanged at an 11- year high of 17 Swiss francs ($18.52) a share, after increasing the payout to that level in 2010. Net capital gains on debt and equity investments were $1.04 billion in the fourth quarter compared with a loss of $78 million in the year-earlier period. �Results were better than expected, but only on the bottom line, which was clearly due to higher realized capital gains,� said Daniel Bischof, a Zurich-based ana...