Generali reported an “extremely solid” capital position, a stable net result excluding Russian impairments, and continued growth in the operating result for its half-year results last week.
“Generali’s solid performance demonstrates that our focus on the implementation of the ‘Lifetime Partner 24: Driving Growth’ strategic plan is the right way to deliver sustainable growth and increase operating profitability,” said Philippe Donnet, Generali group CEO. “We have been able to achieve those results in an increasingly uncertain geopolitical and macroeconomic context while always keeping our customers and their needs as our top priority.
“In the months to come, we will continue to be fully committed to the execution of our three-year plan as we reinforce our group’s leadership as a global insurer and asset manager.”
Generali’s gross written premium rose 2.4% to €41,880 million thanks to property-casualty segment growth.
Life net inflows decreased 7.9% to €6,240 million. The decrease was due to the savings line, consistent with Generali’s strategy to reposition its life business portfolio as well as specific in-force management actions. The protection line grew 7%, and the unit-linked line grew 2.1%.
Life technical provisions fell 1.2% from FFY2021 to €419.2 billion, reflecting the performance of the financial markets.
The operating result continued to rise, increasing 4.8% to €3,140 million, benefiting from the positive development of the life, P&C and holding and other business segments. The operating result of the life segment grew 17.1%, reflecting excellent technical profitability, also confirmed by the new business margin at 5.23%, Generali said.
The operating result of the P&C segment increased by 3%. The combined ratio stood at 92.5%, up 2.8 percentage points, reflecting the higher loss ratio as well as the impact of hyperinflation in Argentina. Without considering that country, the combined ratio would have been 91.9%.
The operating result of the asset and wealth management segment was down 3.3% to €503 million. The decrease was entirely due to lower performance fees at Banca Generali, which were linked to the movement of the financial results. The asset management operating result rose by 6.2%.
The operating result of the holding and other businesses segment grew, spurred largely by the performance of the real estate business.
The non-operating result amounted to €-713 million (€-496 million for H1 2021). In particular, the non-operating investment result was €-168 million (€48 million in H1 2021), due mostly to higher impairments on investments classified as available for sale – particularly Russian investments – and to lower net realized gains.
The net result was €1,402 million (€1,540 million in H1 2021), impacted by impairments on Russian investments totalling €138 million. €97 million was due to fixed-income securities held directly by Generali and €41 million to the investment in Ingosstrakh. Excluding this impact, the net result would have been stable at €1,541 million, Generali said.
The company’s total assets under management were €625.4 billion (down 10.5% from FY2021, entirely reflecting the financial markets’ performance, despite positive net inflows.
Shareholder equity stood at €19,078 million, down 34.9% from FY2021. This was due to the €10,876 million decrease in the available for sales reserves – which was driven largely by the rise in interest rates on government and corporate bonds – and to the €1,691 million payment for the 2021 dividend.
Generali reported an “extremely solid” capital position, with the solvency ratio at 233% (227% in FY21).
