General, all the numbers of Leo
What emerges from the Assicurazioni Generali report on the first nine months of 2023
Premiums and profits increasing in the first nine months of 2023 for Generali which, however, also has to deal with losses due to natural disasters. These numbers, however, give us hope for achieving the plan's objectives.
“In the nine months, the Group continued to grow profitably, thanks to the strong increase in operating profit and net profit, despite the greater impact of natural disasters, confirming its resilience in a context that remains complex from a macroeconomic point of view and geopolitical” commented Generali's CFO, Cristiano Borean. “Thanks to its diversified business model and solid capital position – he added -, Generali is fully in line to successfully achieve all the objectives of the 'Lifetime Partner 24: Driving Growth' strategy”.
PROFIT, OPERATING RESULT AND CAPITAL
As mentioned, the Leone di Trieste in the period January-September benefited from an excellent performance in gross premiums, which grew to 60.5 billion (+4.7%), thanks in particular to the strong development of the Non-Life segment (+11, 4%), and an operating profit that rose to 5.1 billion (+16.7%) again due to the contribution of the same branch. Normalized net profit also increased to 2,979 million (+29.6%), a performance obtained in particular thanks to the improvement in the operating result, the non-recurring profit relating to the sale of the London real estate complex (for 193 million net of taxes ) and the impact of -93 million linked to Russian fixed income instruments recorded in the nine months of 2022. A plus sign also for net profit at 2,822 million (a year earlier it was 1,455 million).
The capital position for the group is still solid, with the Solvency ratio at 224% (compared to 221% for the whole of 2022) and the net assets growing to 27.2 billion (+2.1% for the whole of 2022) . Generali currently has total assets under management of 625.3 billion (+1.6% compared to 2022).
COLLECTION
On the collection front, the decline in the Life business should be highlighted (-1,194 million) with an improvement in the third quarter compared to the previous two thanks – as stated in the press release – to the pure risk and health line which advanced to 3,552 million, led by France and Italy. However, the Life operating result fell to 2,786 million (-1.1%).
Strong growth however for the Non-Life segment with operating profit at 2,155 million (+50.3%) thanks to premiums reaching 23,444 million (+11.4%). The sector's Combined Ratio also improved to 94.3% (-3.1 percentage points), due to a lower loss ratio, despite the significant impact of natural disasters.
A plus sign also for the operating result of the Asset & Wealth Management segment at 728 million (+3.8%), thanks to the strong contribution of
Banca Generali (340 million, 40.6%), and for that of the Holding and other activities segment – although remaining negative – at -216 million (from -249 million), thanks to the benefit recorded in France.
THE ACCOUNT OF LOSSES DUE TO NATURAL DISASTERS
For Generali, in the first nine months of the year, losses from natural disasters (in particular floods and hailstorms in Italy, in central and eastern Europe and in Greece in the third quarter) stood at 875 million, which fell to 837 million taking into account of actualization. As is obvious, natural catastrophes had an impact on the budget combined ratio of 3.% compared to 2.7% a year earlier.
During the conference call with the news agencies, Borean explained that the damage bill for the group has increased again in the last month and a half and until yesterday the estimate was another 50-100 million in damages. “In the month of October and up until last week there were two storms that hit Europe – said the CFO, as reported by ANSA -: France, Italy, the one that hit Tuscany and which he touched. It's a particular year. We are already beyond the impact estimated in the budget, it was already 100 million in the nine months, it is even more so if we look at the effect of the disasters of October and November".
THE OUTLOOK
In the press note, Generali highlights that "thanks to the business actions undertaken to maintain profitability and the strategic initiatives launched in line with the plan, it confirms its commitment to pursuing sustainable growth, improving the profit profile and driving innovation in a to achieve a compound annual growth rate of earnings per share of between 6% and 8% in the period 2021-2024, generate net cash flows at Parent Company level in excess of €8.5 billion in the period 2022-2024 and distribute cumulative dividends to shareholders in the period 2022-2024 for an amount between €5.2 and €5.6 billion, with a ratchet on the dividend per share”.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/assicurazioni-generali-relazione-primi-nove-mesi-2023/ on Fri, 17 Nov 2023 10:52:11 +0000.