CBL Insurance has said it does not expect more acquisitions as the firm looks to optimise its international business.
Peter Harris, CBL chief executive, said that the firm will look to focus its growth on organic options.
“We are pretty happy where we are,” Harris told Insurance Business. “I don’t see so many acquisitions. We have got real scale in Europe so there is a lot of optimisation we can do there. We still have some work we can do with Assetinsure [in Australia] and we’ve got opportunities in Asia, in particular with the joint-venture we’ve signed in India.”
In its half year results, announced last week, the insurer saw underlying profit in the business rise by 2% to $23.6 million off the back of a 35% jump in revenue to $206.2 million. However, operating profit was impacted by a one-off $16.5 million increase to its reserves against future claims forecasts.
Harris explained that the decision to increase reserves was reached because the builders warranty business in France has a long claim period, of up to 10 years, with $10 million of the adjustment due to low interest rates in Europe.
This led to operating profit dipping down to $22.4 million, down 36% on the same period last year, which Harris noted was “disappointing” but will be a positive for the business in the future.
With CBL operating in markets that are not impacted by natural disasters, the insurer has largely been unscathed by the large losses impacting both Australia and New Zealand. In its key residential building market, Harris said that there has been “heat” in Auckland and Christchurch but in general markets remain “fairly stable”.
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