“We are working intensively on the effects of the climate crisis and, in particular, on the contribution that we can make and how to implement preventive measures. This is why we launched the new company UNIQA Sustainable Business Solutions in the first half of the year, which helps our corporate customers to protect themselves against ESG risks beyond traditional insurance,” says Andreas Brandstetter, CEO of UNIQA Insurance Group, highlighting a key focus. The company, which currently operates in Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, supports small to large companies in strengthening their resilience through active risk management and bringing their sustainability strategies into line with legal frameworks.
Premiums written at UNIQA Insurance Group AG, including savings portions from unit-linked and index-linked life insurance, rose by 8.8% to EUR 4,071.3 million in 1H2024 compared with the same period of the previous year. Above all, property and casualty insurance (+10.7%) and health insurance (+10.2%) contributed to this very pleasing growth.
The insurance revenue in accordance with IFRS 17 at the UNIQA Group rose in 1H 2024 by 10.4% to EUR 3,211.6 million. All business lines and segments contributed towards this, with property and casualty insurance growing by 11.0%, health insurance by 10.7% and life insurance by 6.6%. Insurance revenue in Austria rose by 6.6% and gained 14.0% in the international companies.
UNIQA’s technical result increased slightly to EUR 307.2 million.
Net investment income rose to EUR 437.7 million in 1H 2024. The main reasons for this were low levels of impairment, the favorable interest rate environment and the good performance of the stock markets. The resulting financial result of EUR 129.5 million was in line with expectations.
The UNIQA Group’s earnings before taxes improved y-o-y significantly, by 19.0% to EUR 277.5 million. The consolidated profit (share of the profit/(loss) for the period attributable to the shareholders of UNIQA Insurance Group AG) increased by 24.6% to EUR 220.9 million.
The solvency capital requirement (SCR) ratio according to Solvency II – considered to be an indicator for capitalization – was at a very high level of 266% as at 30 June 2024, an increase of 11 percentage points compared to the end of 2023.
Premiums written in property and casualty insurance grew by 10.7% to EUR 2,482.2 million in 1H 2024. The gross combined ratio in property and casualty insurance improved further from an already good level of 87.7% to 87.3% in the first half of 2024 and is significantly better than expected. Strong growth and fewer major claims are the main drivers of this positive development.
In health insurance, growth of 10.2% was recorded in premiums written in 1H 2024 to EUR 764.7 million. In life insurance, premiums written, including savings portions from unit-linked and index-linked life insurance, increased slightly by 2.3% to EUR 824.4 million.
New business in health and life insurance remained at a healthy level in 1H 2024. Based on the contractual service margin, the new business margin was 9.9% with a new business value of EUR 119.4 million.
The contractual service margin (CSM) increased to EUR 5,549.0 million as at 30 June 2024, as compared with EUR 5,266.3 million, at 31 December 2023.
This balance sheet item – which has been new since IFRS 17 – represents the profits expected in future from contracts in the long-term business in life and health insurance.
Outlook
For the 2024 financial year, the last year of our “UNIQA 3.0 – Seeding the Future” strategic program, we are concentrating on further improving our core insurance business in our two home markets of Austria and CEE.
“Based on a solvency ratio of at least 170%, we strive to allow our shareholders to participate progressively in the success of our company, i.e. with annually increasing dividend payments. The payout ratio will remain unchanged at up to 60%,” the Group’s press release said.
These forecasts are subject to possible negative influences on UNIQA’s consolidated profit that may result from geopolitical upheavals and the associated uncertainties for the global capital markets, from a volatile interest rate environment, from the general inflation trend and, above all, from increased claims payments as a result of natural catastrophes. In connection with this, UNIQA expects its target profitability to be in line with the 2023 result.
UNIQA’s Half-Year Financial Report 2024 is available in the Investor Relations area on the UNIQA website.
UNIQA Insurance Group AG prepares its financial statements in accordance with the new IFRS 9 and IFRS 17, which have been applied since 1 January 2023. Even though the premiums written are not part of the IFRS 9/17 reporting, they are still stated.
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