The world's largest reinsurer made a net profit of 513 million euros ($619 million) before minorities in the third quarter, up by a third from a year ago, as it garnered more than 3 billion euros from gains from investments.
These included 563 million euros from a stake sale in German insurer Allianz, and in total far outstripped a net 750 million euros for its share of damages from a devastating series of hurricanes in the United States.
This year's hurricane season has spawned some of the most intense Atlantic storms on record: Katrina devastated New Orleans and parts of Mississippi and Alabama in August and killed an estimated 1,200 people, while Rita hit the Texas-Louisiana border a few weeks later.
While one-off investment gains have kept Munich Re on course for its 2005 profit goal, rivals Swiss Re and Hannover Re have been forced to lower their sights because of heavy claims from the storms.
"If there are no further negative surprises, our result target of 12 percent return on equity after tax is within reach. That would also make a higher dividend possible," Chief Financial Officer Joerg Schneider said in a statement.
The company's 2005 result will be bolstered by a substantial capital gain in the fourth quarter from swapping its more than 18 percent stake in HVB for shares in Italy's UniCredito, which is buying the German bank.
"The profit effect from this transaction would be around 1 billion euros if the HVB share price is around 22 euros," Schneider said in a telephone conference.
The share swap will give Munich Re a 6.5 percent to 7 percent stake UniCredito. CFO Schneider said Munich Re did not need to hold such a large stake to assure business co-operation between the two groups but said there were no plans at present to cut its UniCredito stake.