Insurer Allianz missed expectations with a 8.2 per cent drop in net profit in the second quarter, hurt by a writedown on Greek government debt.

Quarterly net profit after minorities was €1 billion, the insurer reported today, missing the average of 10 forecasts in a Reuters poll of banks and brokerages for a 23 per cent rise to €1.34 billion.

Allianz took a €326 million writedown on holdings of Greek government debt in the quarter.

Allianz reconfirmed its full-year operating profit target of €8 billion, plus or minus €500 million, after posting above-expected operating profit of €2.3 billion in the second quarter.

Separately, Britain's biggest insurer Prudential has reported a bigger-than-expected 25 per cent rise in half-year profit, helped by strong growth in the highly profitable South-East Asian markets.

Prudential reported an operating profit of £1.06 billion for the first six months of 2011, compared with £968 million a year earlier. Analysts had expected an operating profit of £963 million, according to a consensus of forecasts compiled by Prudential.

Prudential said it remained on course to deliver the profit growth and cash generation targets it had outlined earlier this year.

Reuters