UPDATE 2-Hannover Re raises 2009 target after strong Q3
* Hannover Re operating profit 159.4 mln eur, above expected
* Raises 2009 profit target, sees ROE above 20 pct
* CFO says no share buyback planned, Q4 started well
* Aims to resume dividend payment, with at least 2 euros/shr
* Shares up 3.2 percent, insurance index up 0.8 percent
(Adds comments by CFO and analyst; more detail and background)
FRANKFURT, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Hannover Re (HNRGn.DE) raised its 2009 earnings targets after third-quarter results beat expectations thanks to low damage claims and revitalised investment income, sending its shares up more than 3 percent.
The world's fourth-biggest reinsurer's repeated predictions of strong growth in its property-casualty and life and health reinsurance business have boosted the share price by more than 40 percent so far this year.
Chief Executive Ulrich Wallin, Hannover Re's 54-year-old securitisation specialist who took the helm in July, said the company was set for a good 2009, with premiums up 30 percent.
"We now anticipate earnings of at least 5.75 euros a share and are looking to pay a dividend of at least 2 euros per share," he said in a statement on Friday.
Analysts have been on average forecasting a payout for this year of 1.86 euros a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S Hannover's last dividend was for 2007 when the payout totalled 2.30 euros, including a 0.50-euro bonus.
Analysts polled by Reuters ahead of the results release had pencilled in EPS of 5.33 euros for 2009, with the average expectation for full-year net profit of 643 million euros ($954.9 million).
The company's new forecast points to full-year net profit of at least 693 million euros, if no more big damage claims occur.
Chief Financial Officer Roland Vogel told Reuters in an interview that beside its plan to pay a substantial dividend, Hannover Re aimed to keep ploughing cash into its business.
"There are no plans for a share buyback," Vogel said, adding that the group also would look at possible acquisitions in the life reinsurance business but had no concrete plans. Continued...
