Financial result, profit before taxes and cash flow

Financial result

A brief presentation of the financial result (excluding at equity consolidated companies) is included in Note 29 “Financial result” of the notes to the consolidated financial statements.

VIG earned a financial result (incl. the result from at equity consolidated companies) of EUR 1,116.86 million in 2014. This year-on-year decrease of 9.0% was primarily due to the EUR 79 million write-down of Hypo Alpe Adria bonds, higher interest expenses from the subordinated bond issued in the autumn of 2013 and lower ordinary financial income as a result of the current low level of interest rates.

Profit before taxes

Vienna Insurance Group achieved a profit before taxes of EUR 518.37 million in 2014, corresponding to a year-on-year increase of EUR 46.0%. It must be noted that the result in 2013 was impacted by negative effects in Romania and Italy, although negative effects were also felt in 2014 from the write-down of Hypo Alpe Adria bonds.

Many countries, however, achieved very large increases in profit growth, such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland and Slovakia.

Cash flow

Cash flow from operating activities was EUR 1,426.90 million in 2014, compared to EUR 1,220.58 million in 2013. The cash flow from investing activities was EUR -1,029.41 million (2013: EUR -1,308.41 million), due to the intentional reduction in short-term single-premium business in Poland. VIG financing activities produced a cash flow of EUR -318.73 million in 2014 (2013: EUR 48.48 million). This is lower than in 2013, because the previous year was positively influenced by the issue of a supplementary capital bond. The Group had cash and cash equivalents of EUR 781.99 million at the end of 2014. Vienna Insurance Group received a total of EUR 970.66 million in interest and dividends in 2014.