Italy-headquartered insurer Generali has posted a net result of €1,402 million during the second quarter of 2022, down 9.0% from the same period last year due to its Russian investments.
The company reported that impairments on Russian investments totaled €138 million as the war in Ukraine continue to negatively affect financial markets.
Excluding this impact, the net result would have been stable at € 1,541 million, Generali says.
Looking only at the operating result, performance improved by 4.8% from €2,996 million in Q2 2021 to €3,140 million this year, mainly due to a 17.1% increase in the life result, but also helped by a 3.0% increase for P&C.
Generali explained that the higher operating result for the life segment reflected better technical profitability, and was also confirmed by the new business margin at 5.23%.
Meanwhile, for P&C, a 15.5% decrease in the technical result was more than offset by a 45.1% improvement in the financial result, which benefitted from both higher current income and higher dividends from Banca Generali and private equity.
Nevertheless, the combined ratio did deteriorate by 2.8 percentage points, mainly due to a higher loss ratio and also the impact of hyperinflation in Argentina.
Natural catastrophe claims slightly increased in the first six months of 2022 from €218 million last year to reach €271 million, including the storms that mainly impacted France, Germany and ACEE.
Gross written premiums were up 2.4% to €41,880 overall, reflecting a 0.5% decrease in Generali’s life segment that was offset by a 8.5% increase for P&C, which grew to €14,582 million.
“Generali’s solid performance demonstrates that our focus on the implementation of the ‘Lifetime Partner 24: Driving Growth’ strategic plan is the right way to deliver sustainable growth and increase operating profitability,” commented Generali Group CEO, Philippe Donnet.
“We have been able to achieve these results in an increasingly uncertain geopolitical and macroeconomic context while always keeping our customers and their needs as our top priority,” he continued.
“In the months to come, we will continue to be fully committed to the execution of our three-year plan as we reinforce our Group’s leadership as a global insurer and asset manager.”
