Spanish re/insurance firm MAPFRE has posted a 6.5% increase in revenues over the first nine months of 2019, as well positive earnings growth in its reinsurance unit, MAPFRE RE.
The company recorded revenues of €21.6 billion (US $24.1 billion) for the first three quarters of the year, compared to €20.3 billion ($22.6 billion) for the same period last year.
Similarly, MAPFRE RE – which comprises MAPFRE’s reinsurance and Global Risks units – increased its net result from €3.4 million ($3.8 million) in Q3 2018 to €17.2 million ($19.2 million) this year.
This was despite retained losses from Typhoon Faxai, a Brazilian drought, and two large non-catastrophe events.
However, over the nine-month period, MAPFRE Re earnings were down 17.2% to €102 million ($114 million), owing to higher non-catastrophe claims frequency coming from the Global Risks portfolio.
During this time, the unit drove its premium volume up by 7.6% to €4.1 billion ($4.6 billion), including €777 million ($866 million) of Global Risks business premiums.
MAPFRE reported an earnings increase of 7.8% for its insurance units, as well as overall premium growth of 2.5% to €17.7 billion ($19.7 billion), and profitable results in its three main markets of Spain, Brazil and the US.
Business growth was also strong in the Latin America region with a 13.3% increase in premiums, and all countries in the region recorded positive results and healthy combined ratios.
The Group’s overall combined ratio stood at 96.4% at the close of September, representing an improvement of 1.7 percentage points when compared with 2018.
Net earnings for the first nine months of the year were down 12.5% to €463 million ($516 million), but MAPFRE attributed this decline primarily to its €77 million ($86 million) allocation to writing down the Asistencia business.
Without this goodwill impairment, MAPFRE noted, its profits would have grown by 2% over this period.
Group investments amounted to €54.8 billion ($61.1 billion) at the close of September, showing an increase of 11.1% compared to 2018.
