Financial result
A brief presentation of the financial result (excluding at equity consolidated companies) is included in note 29 (Financial result) of the notes to the consolidated financial statements.
VIG earned a financial result (incl. the result from at equity consolidated companies) of EUR 1,218.82 million in 2013. This year-on-year decrease of 1.9% was primarily due to changes in the scope of consolidation.
Profit before taxes
After achieving a record profit in 2012, Vienna Insurance Group's profit before taxes fell to EUR 355.14 million in 2013, representing a year-on-year decrease of 37.0%. This drop is mainly due to the ongoing difficult market conditions in Romania and the adverse developments experienced by Donau Versicherung in Italy, where the Company was confronted with a massive increase in claims expenses.
Many countries, however, achieved very large increases in growth, such as the Baltic States, Bulgaria, Georgia, Croatia, Poland and Turkey.
Cash flow
Cash flow from operating activities was EUR 1,201.23 million in 2013, compared to EUR 1,591.21 million in 2012. The decrease was mainly due to the intentional reduction in the short-term single-premium business in Poland. Cash flow from investing activities was EUR -1,291.40 million (2012: EUR -1,179.67 million). VIG financing activities produced a cash flow of EUR 48.48 million in 2013 (2012: EUR -170.14 million). The improvement was due to the issue of a supplementary capital bond. The Group had cash and cash equivalents of EUR 705.03 million at the end of 2013. Vienna Insurance Group received a total of EUR 1,014.26 million in interests and dividends in 2013.