Simple compagnie d'assurance incendie à sa création en 1863, la Bâloise a rapidement étendu ses activités les années suivantes en offrant des services de police d'assurance-vie et de transports. Prenant la forme d'une holding en 1962, elle a réuni toutes les activités d'assurances du groupe en 1971. Aujourd'hui, la Bloise offre une gamme extrêmement complète de services d'assurance : vie, incendie, et retraite. Sans oublier des services financiers.

http://www.baloise.com/

Basel, March 21, 2006 – The Baloise Group achieved a net profit of CHF 404 million in 2005, a marked 81% above the previous year's result of CHF 223 million. 

 All lines of insurance, the banking segment and all business units contributed to this excellent result thanks to a very solid operational performance. The Board of Directors will propose to the Annual General Meeting of April 28, 2006 a cash dividend of CHF 2.20 per share, twice the previous year's amount. The Board of Directors also decided to repurchase up to 10% of the outstanding shares over the coming three years.

Performance highlights of the 2005 business year include:

Net profit of CHF 404 million (2004: CHF 223 million) or CHF 7.3 per share (2004: CHF 3.9 per share) 
Return on equity of 10.3% (2004: 6.5%), despite a 26% equity increase 
Further improvement of balance sheet quality: solvency margin raised to 309% (including banking assets), three times the legally required minimum 
Non-life insurance: combined ratio of 100.0% (2004: 97.5%), heavily burdened by the floods in Switzerland, Germany and Austria 
Life insurance: embedded value up 10.4% to CHF 2,360 million. 
Overall investment performance of 5.0% as against 4.3% in 2004