QBE Insurance Group, Australia's top insurer by premium income, released its results for FY 2009 and posted an increase of 6% in net profit. But the investors were not impressed as the net profit was not with the line of market expectations and the shares of the company fell 7% to A$21.40 after making a low of A$21.02 on Friday.

For the full year 2009, QBE posted a net profit of A$1.97 billion, increasing by 6% while in the previous fiscal the company posted a net profit of A$1.86 billion. But the net profit was not in line with the market expectations as the analysts were expecting a net profit of A$2.04 billion for the year. Though many analysts said that the results were not disappointing and were close to the expectations, the investors were not impressed by the results and the shares slipped on Friday.

The insurance margin for the year was posted 17% while QBE was expecting a margin of 16% to 18.

While giving the guidance for 2010, QBE said that it would continue to pursue its expansion policy by growing its businesses and looking for acquisition opportunities.

"The outlook for growth in our existing business and for a continuation of strong underwriting profits is positive," QBE chief executive Frank O'Halloran said.