GENERALI, announced lower results for the first half year of 2009
- Net profit at € 504 million, up by € 400 million from the end of March 2009
- Premiums at € 34.7 billion in line with the first half of 2008, despite the economic crisis. Life net inflows up to € 7.1 billion (+6.5%)
- Solid capital position confirmed with shareholders’ equity at € 11.6 billion, +5.4% from the end of March 2009
First-half premiums substantially stable, showing faster growth in the second quarter
- Total premiums € 34.7 billion (-1.5%)
- Life premiums € 23 billion (-1.9%), Non-Life premiums € 11.6 billion (-0.9%)
- Life technical reserves € 271 billion (+3.6% from end 2008)
- Positive Life premium performance in second quarter (+4.7% from the first quarter 2009)
Group efficiency improves
- Sharp reduction in administrative expenses and holding costs to € 1.2 billion (-4.4%)
High profitability in new Life production. Non-Life impacted in particular by extraordinary major events such as the Abruzzo earthquake and storms in Italy, France and Spain
- Life New Business Value € 464 million from € 568 million, with high margins on APE at 19.4%
- Combined ratio 97.9% from 94.6%
- Overall operating result € 1.9 billion (-21%)
- Recovery in Life operating result in second quarter (+37% from the first quarter 2009)
Solid capital position confirmed
- Embedded Value up to € 23.1 billion; normalised RoEV at 12.5%
- Solvency I up 2 p.p. to 125%
Commenting on the results, Assicurazioni Generali Chairman Antoine Bernheim said: “We close this first half of the year – a period impacted in its early months by what is considered to have been the worst period of the financial crisis – with confirmation of Generali’s ability to respond effectively in a challenging environment. We have been rewarded for our geographic spread and for the effectiveness of our distribution model, our financial and management discipline, but above all for our determination to maintain a long term vision for our business. These strengths, in a period also marked by a number of significant natural disasters, have enabled us to deliver in the second quarter the best results since the beginning of the global financial crisis. We therefore look ahead with confidence to the full year in which our objective is to improve gross premiums and their profitability in the life business and to maintain positive core business margins in the Non-life business. We expect the second six months to remain challenging; however the Group has shown in the past both strength and flexibility in meeting its objectives even in testing times.”
