Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Vienna Insurance Group, Austria's biggest insurer, said third-quarter profit climbed 3.4 percent after selling more life and auto insurance policies in eastern Europe.

Net income rose to 93.3 million euros ($118.6 million) from 90.2 million euros a year earlier, the Vienna-based company said today in an e-mailed statement. Net earned premiums increased 22 percent to 1.7 billion euros.

``We have not detected any decline in the demand for insurance products in the central and eastern European region,'' Chief Executive Officer Guenter Geyer said. The financial crisis ``hasn't resulted in any serious impairment of turnover in this region,'' he added.

Vienna Insurance is expanding in the region, where premium growth rates outstrip those in western Europe. It paid 1.45 billion euros in March for Erste Bank AG's insurance unit to become the biggest insurer in eastern Europe.

Vienna Insurance reiterated that it expects to post a pretax profit of 540 million euros this year. About 38 percent of the company's 407 million-euro nine-month earnings on that basis is from eastern Europe.

Management will recommend paying a 1.10 euro a share dividend this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Tirone in Vienna at jtirone@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 11, 2008 03:14 EST