(Alliance News) - Munich Re AG on Friday said it will trim its stake in London-listed insurer Admiral Group PLC.

The Munich-based insurance company will sell 7.4 million Admiral shares, cutting its stake to around 1.8%. At current prices, the 7.4 million shares are worth some GBP150 million.

"Munich Re has committed not to sell any further shares in Admiral for a period of 12 months. Munich Re continues to believe in Admiral's business model and management team and the sale is not expected to have any impact on the business relationship with Admiral," Munich Re said.

In August, Admiral reported that in the six months to June 30, group pretax profit fell 48% year-on-year to GBP251.3 million from GBP482.2 million. It cut its interim dividend accordingly to 60.0p per share from 115.0p. Compared to pre-Covid times, however, pretax profit was up 19%, when it declared an interim dividend of 63.0p.

Admiral shares were 0.1% higher at 2,087.00 pence each on Friday morning in London, while Munic Re traded 0.7% higher at EUR28.60 each in Frankfurt.

By Tom Budszus; tombudszus@alliancenews.com

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