01 Gothaer Konzern_E_09_Umschl - Gothaer Allgemeine ...

Management Report
Other Activities segment
Performance in the
Other Activities segment
Companies operating in the Other Activities segment include Gothaer Finanzholding AG
and the Group’s service providers. Gothaer Finanzholding AG, as the holding company of
the Gothaer Group, holds all the shares in the main insurance companies and many other
Group companies. As of the financial year 2004, the portfolio run-off of the former
Gothaer Rückversicherung AG is handled by Gothaer Finanzholding AG. Gothaer Finanzholding
AG is included in the Other Activities segment and not the Property/Casualty
segment because its primary function is as a holding company.
Among the main service providers are Gothaer Asset Management AG, which invests and
manages financial assets for Group companies and third parties.
Gothaer Systems GmbH is the Gothaer Group’s data centre and network operator and
a provider of other services in the area of information technology and software programming,
including applications development.
Other important services that are needed to maintain Group companies’ operations are
provided by Hamburg-Kölner-Vermögensverwaltung GmbH. The company purchases office
furnishings and supplies for Group companies, rents office space and performs other
services in the areas of facility management, company catering services, printing and
advertising.
The operations of Gothaer Finanzholding AG in the Other Activities segment consist
exclusively of handling the residual insurance run-off of the former Gothaer Rückversicherung
AG. Insurance business is thus of secondary importance in this segment
and ended the year with a loss of €–1.3 million following €–5.4 million in the prior year.
The improvement of the underwriting result was due to the fact that the volume of loss
reserves that needed to be reversed was greater in the year under review.
The carrying value of investments in the Other Activities segment totalled €2.02 billion
(PY: €1.84 billion), €1.18 billion (PY: €1.00 billion) of which related to the shares held by
Gothaer Finanzholding AG in all the insurance companies in the Gothaer Group as well as
other participations. In line with the structure of the investment portfolio, investment
result was shaped by income from these holdings, either under profit transfer agreements
or in the form of dividend payouts. After €245.4 million in the prior year, investment result
totalled only €124.5 million in the year under review. However, the prior-year figure
includes extraordinary profit on the sale of a participation.
The balance of other income and other expenses of the service providers in the Gothaer
Group improved from €–21.9 million to €–6.5 million, here too reflecting the success of
our systematic cost-cutting programmes.
58 Gothaer Group Annual Report 2009