Swiss Re made better-than-expected 2007 net profit as it escaped further subprime writedowns in the fourth quarter.
It today reported a 9 per cent drop in net profit at 4.2 billion Swiss francs ($3.95 billion), slightly above the four billion average forecast by analysts.
The group also raised slightly its return on equity goal to 14 per cent from 13 per cent, while sticking to its 10 per cent earnings per share growth.
The world's biggest reinsurer hiked its dividend by 18 per cent to four francs per share, in "a further sign of our confidence in the future earnings power of the firm", Swiss Re chief financial officer George Quinn said.
The news pushed Swiss Re shares up 4.4 per cent to 83.5 francs at 10.08am, well ahead of the DJ STOXX index of insurers which was down 1.2 per cent.
Its shares have fallen 18 per cent since announcing a 1.2 billion Swiss francs writedown on two credit default swaps in November. The company said it escaped further writedowns during 2007 but had booked modest further markdowns during the course of this year.