“Pleasing growth in Austria of 4.5 per cent and in Eastern Europe of an excellent 12.3 per cent, a moderate claims burden and very good performance with our investments ensured a significant increase in earnings before taxes of almost 20 per cent”, says Andreas Brandstetter, CEO of UNIQA Insurance Group, summarising the results of the first half of the year. The gross combined ratio, an important indicator of the profitability of an insurance company, is an excellent 87.3 per cent.
“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 Brandstetter, 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.
Key figures for 1 – 6/2024
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.
Premiums written at UNIQA Insurance Group AG, including savings portions from unit-linked and index-linked life insurance, rose by 8.8 per cent to €4,071.3 million in the first six months of 2024 compared with the same period of the previous year (1 – 6/2023: €3,741.9 million). Above all, property and casualty insurance (+10.7 per cent) and health insurance (+10.2 per cent) contributed to this very pleasing growth.
The insurance revenue in accordance with IFRS 17 at the UNIQA Group rose in the first two quarters of 2024 by 10.4 per cent to €3,211.6 million (1 – 6/2023: €2,909.2 million). All business lines and segments contributed towards this, with property and casualty insurance growing by 11.0 per cent, health insurance by 10.7 per cent and life insurance by 6.6 per cent. Insurance revenue in Austria rose by 6.6 per cent and gained 14.0 per cent in the international companies.
UNIQA’s technical result increased slightly to €307.2 million (1 – 6/2023: €299.5 million).
Net investment income rose to €437.7 million in the first half of 2024 (1 – 6/2023: €–310.8 million). The main reasons for this were low levels of impairment, the favourable interest rate environment and the good performance of the stock markets. The resulting financial result of €129.5 million was in line with expectations (1 – 6/2023: €82.6 million).
The UNIQA Group’s earnings before taxes improved significantly by 19.0 per cent to €277.5 million (1 – 6/2023: €233.2 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 per cent to €220.9 million (1 – 6/2023: €177.3 million).
The solvency capital requirement (SCR) ratio according to Solvency II – considered to be an indicator for capitalisation – was at a very high level of 266 per cent as at 30 June 2024, an increase of 11 percentage points compared to the end of 2023.
Results in the business lines
Property and casualty insurance
Premiums written in property and casualty insurance grew by 10.7 per cent to €2,482.2 million in the first six months of 2024 (1 – 6/2023: €2,242.5 million).
The gross combined ratio in property and casualty insurance improved further from an already good level of 87.7 per cent to 87.3 per cent 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.
Health and life insurance
In health insurance, growth of 10.2 per cent was recorded in premiums written in the first half of 2024 to €764.7 million (1 – 6/2023: €693.8 million).
In life insurance, premiums written, including savings portions from unit-linked and index-linked life insurance, increased slightly by 2.3 per cent to €824.4 million (1 – 6/2023: €805.5 million).
New business in health and life insurance remained at a healthy level in the first half of 2024. Based on the contractual service margin, the new business margin was 9.9 per cent with a new business value of €119.4 million.
The contractual service margin (CSM) increased to €5,549.0 million as at 30 June 2024 (31 December 2023: €5,266.3 million).
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 programme, 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 per cent, 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 per cent.
These forecasts are subject to possible negative influences on our consolidated profit. These 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, we expect our target profitability to be at the level of 2023.
Please see the Half-Year Financial Report 2024 and the corresponding presentation of results for further information and details; both of these are available in the Investor Relations area on the UNIQA website.
Clause regarding predictions about the future
This press release contains statements which refer to the future development of UNIQA. These statements present estimations which were reached on the basis of all of the information available to us at the present time. If the assumptions on which they are based do not occur, the actual results may vary from the results currently expected. As a result, no guarantee can be provided for the information given.