Italy-headquartered insurer Generali has reported that gross written premiums increased to €22.2 billion in Q1 of 2023, driven by robust growth in the P&C segment, which was up 10.1%.
Meanwhile, Life net inflows were €-190 million, with net outflows from savings that were partially compensated by positive net inflows in both unit-linked and protection.
Generali suggests that this aligns with its strategy to reposition its portfolio and reflects the industry trends observed in the banking channels in Italy and France.
Elsewhere, the firm saw its operating result in Q1 increase to €1,820 million (+22.1%), which it again attributes to the P&C segment.
“The Life operating result was solid at € 24 million (+1.0%) and the New Business Margin increased to 5.72% (+0.32 p.p.). The operating result of the P&C segment increased to €847 million (+74.6%),” Generali explains.
With this in mind, the firm’s Combined Ratio improved to 90.7% (-5.6 p.p.), driven by a lower loss ratio.
The adjusted net result in Q1 also improved substantially to €1,229 million, up from €821 million in the same quarter of 2022.
Generali states that this was due primarily to the aforementioned improved operating result, which benefitted from diversified profit sources and a non-recurring capital gain related to the disposal of a London real estate development (€193 million net of taxes).
Generali’s shareholders’ equity in Q1 of 2023 increased to €28.0 billion, while the Group’s Total Assets Under Management increased to € 631.3 billion, reflecting the positive market effect across the main asset classes.
The Italian insurer also confirmed its “extremely solid capital position”, with the Solvency Ratio of 227%, up from 221% in FY 2022.
Generali notes that the 6 p.p. increase mainly reflected the strong contribution of the normalised capital generation, and also benefitted from positive impacts from market variances (driven by the narrowing of spreads on government bonds, the recovery of the equity market and the reduced volatilities).
Generali Group CFO, Cristiano Borean, commented, “The strong profitable growth delivered in the first quarter confirms that we remain fully on track to meet the targets of our ‘Lifetime Partner 24: Driving Growth’ strategy.
“The performance of the P&C segment reflects our focus on technical excellence, while in the Life segment, we continue to rebalance our business mix towards our more profitable lines, even in a challenging environment.
“The Group also confirms its extremely solid solvency position, driven by strong organic capital generation. This quarter is also the first time that we report under the new accounting standards.
“This allows us to significantly improve the visibility and predictability of profit sources and provides a more accurate representation of the value embedded in our Life business. I would like to thank all the colleagues in the Group that have contributed to the IFRS 17 and 9 project.”
