MILAN (Reuters) - Italian insurer Generali (MI:GASI)'s said on Thursday is third-quarter net profit fell 18.2 percent as market volatility prompted it to forego the sale of some securities, but it still expected full-year earnings to be well above last year's.
Europe's third-largest insurer by market value said net profit in the three months to September came in at 420 million euros (296.46 million pounds), below a consensus of six analysts of 535 million euros.
Operating profit fell 9.3 percent to 1.061 billion euros, compared with an analyst estimate of 1.077 billion euros.
Generali's pro-forma economic solvency ratio - a closely watched measure of financial strength calculated using internal models based on Solvency II principles - stood at 196 percent from 200 percent at the end of June.