MILAN (Reuters) -Italy’s top insurer Assicurazioni Generali said on Thursday it posted a smaller-than-expected drop in Q1 net profit after impairments on its Russian investments for 136 million euros ($142.75 million).
Net profit came in at 727 million euros, down 9.3% year-on-year, above an analyst consensus provided by the insurer of 651 million euros.
The impairments include 96 million euros related to Russian directly held fixed-income instruments and 40 million euros for a stake in Russian insurer Ingosstrakh, the insurer said, adding exposure to Russian and Ukrainian indirect and unit-linked instruments was “negligible”, for a total of 77 million euros.
Generali said its operating profit, closely watched by the market, grew 1.1% to 1.63 billion euros, topping an average analyst consensus of 1.55 billion euros.
($1 = 0.9527 euros)
(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro, editing by Maria Pia Quaglia)
