The Talanx Group, which is the parent of reinsurance giant Hannover Re, has produced net income of €742 million for the first nine months of 2019, while the group-wide combined ratio remained relatively flat at 98.5%.
Net income of €742 million represents growth of 52% on the same period in 2018, and was supported by significant earnings improvement in the firm’s industrial insurance operation.
In industrial insurance, Talanx notes that the combined ratio improved by more than 10 percentage points to 101% for the nine month period, while for the third-quarter of 2019, the segment’s combined ratio dipped below 100% for the first time, at 99.8%.
As a result of contributions from all business segments, Talanx’s operating result after nine months improved significantly to €1.9 billion in 2019, versus €1.5 billion a year earlier.
“In addition to the operating result, the equity ratio has also increased significantly. We are optimistic that we will achieve our target of more than EUR 900 million in the consolidated result this year. In line with our medium-term goal of achieving an annual increase in earnings per share of at least 5 percent on the basis of the original earnings forecast of EUR 850 million in 2018, we aim to achieve consolidated net income of more than EUR 900 million in 2020,” says the firm.
The impact of major losses, which includes catastrophe events, totalled €782 million at group level for the nine month period, which is up on the same period last year but below the €900 million major loss budget target. By segment, and Talanx reveals that primary insurance accounted for €236 million of losses and reinsurance accounted for €546 million, which were below expectations.
While the reinsurance segment experienced higher losses year-on-year, the contribution to the consolidated result improved from €365 million in 2018 to €480 million this year.
The underwriting result in the firm’s property / casualty (P&C) segment totalled €196 million, versus €162 million for the same period in 2018.
At 98.5%, the group-wide combined ratio for the first nine months of 2019 remained relatively unchanged from the 98.6% recorded for the same period in 2018.
