(Adds details, analyst, updates shares)
SYDNEY, June 18 (Reuters) - QBE Insurance Ltd shares
rebounded off an eight month low on Tuesday after the company
said it was on track to achieve its projected insurance profit
in
calendar 2002.
Australia's largest non-life insurer also blamed recent
weakness in its share price on "uninformed comments in the
market".
QBE, whose exposure to the September 11 attacks ended 20
years of profit growth in 2001, said claims for the first
five-and-a-half months of the year were below expectations and
overall premium rate rises around the world higher than the 20
percent forecast.
"While volatile bond and equity markets may affect the
movement in unrealised gains at balance date, this is not
likely
to affect insurance profit performance," QBE chief executive
Frank O'Halloran said in a statement.
QBE said it was on track for its 2002 annual plan of a
projected insurance profit of 6.0-6.5 percent of net earned
premium of around A$5.5 billion.
The stronger Australian dollar was not likely to
have
a negative impact on results, the insurer said.
Shares in QBE, which have slipped from around A$7.20 over
the
past seven sessions, bounced off an eight month low at A$6.05
to
gain 23 cents, or 3.5 percent, to A$6.78 in a firmer overall
market.
"They just reiterated what they said before. There had
been
suggestions they'd walked away from their targets due to
difficult environments, namely low interest rates," said an
insurance analyst who declined to be named.
"They're just basically saying that's rubbish, there's no
change and everything's on track," he added.
QBE's A$252 million exposure to the September 11 attacks
dragged it into the red last year, with the group posting a
A$25
million loss after 20 years of profit growth.
Analysts polled by Multex Global Estimates tip a A$356.5
million net profit for QBE in 2002, with forecasts ranging
from
A$300 million to A$391.8 million.
"With terrorism, weak investment markets, all of a sudden
you
get this bit of fear, because we've had a couple of insurance
companies collapse in Australia, it feeds on itself," said the
analyst.
((Sydney Newsroom 61-2 9373-1800, fax 61 2 9262-4727,
[email protected]))