Insurer and reinsurer MAPFRE recorded a 6.8% increase in revenues in the first-half of 2019 to €15.05 billion, driven by an increase in premiums to €12.53 billion and elevated financial income.
For the first-half of the year, MAPFRE’s net earnings hit €375 million, which is a decline of 2.9% on the same period last year, and which the firm attributes to lower financial gains and a reduced contribution from its Life business in Brazil.
MAPFRE’s combined ratio strengthened in the period to 95.9% as its loss ratio also improved in the six-month period, by two percentage points to 67.5%.
By segment, and MAPFRE’s insurance unit saw its premiums increase by 7% year-on-year to €10.62 billion. The re/insurer highlights strong improvement in its Life business during the period, which grew by more than 15%. The firm’s property and casualty (P&C) segment also grew, by 4.7% and produced a combined ratio of 91.6%, which is a significant improvement on the same period in 2018.
MAPFRE RE, the company’s reinsurance arm, experienced premium growth of 0.4% to €2.8 billion. MAPFRE states that this figure includes the Global Risks business premium of €567 million, which have been integrated into the reinsurance unit.
Despite the premium growth, the reinsurance segment was hit by a €20 million claim in the period, and as such, saw its net result fall by almost 30% year-on-year to €85 million.
