𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐞'𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬
Insurer Baloise clearly increased profit last year despite high storm losses.
This was due to further operational improvements as well as the good performance on the stock markets. In addition, the payments for the Corona pandemic were lower. A clearly higher dividend will be proposed to shareholders for payment.
In 2021, profit climbed 36 percent to 588 million Swiss francs, the Group announced Thursday. The operating business generated an operating profit (EBIT) of 723 million. This is an increase of one fifth. The company thus closed the year slightly better than analysts had expected.
Baloise still has a thick capital cushion and intends to pay shareholders a dividend of 7.00 francs per share, 60 centimes higher than last year. The solvency ratio, as measured by the Swiss Solvency Test (SST), is estimated by management at a robust 210 percent.
Burdened by storms
Whereas in 2020 the result had been burdened by expenses for the Corona pandemic amounting to almost 180 million francs, last year the hail and flood damage of the summer had a major impact of around 120 million francs. Baloise has never before had to set aside so much money to cover natural catastrophe losses.
In non-life insurance, the combined ratio deteriorated by 1.4 percentage points to 92.6 percent due to the impact of the storms. However, the rate is still well below 100 percent and thus in the profitable range.
In the life business, EBIT increased by 44 percent to 407 million Swiss francs thanks to the good development on the capital markets.
Meanwhile, business volume increased by 7.4 percent to 9.59 billion Swiss francs. In addition to organic growth in all country subsidiaries, the full integration of Athora's non-life portfolio in Belgium and growth in investment-type premiums, among other factors, made a positive contribution to the development, according to the statement.
Baloise also completed the "Simply Safe" program, adding one million additional customers from 2017 to 2021, as announced, according to the statement. With the follow-up program "Simply Safe: Season 2", a further growth of 1.5 million customers is targeted by 2025.
$BALN.ZU (Baloise Holding AG)$OIL$BTC$NSDQ100$GOLD$GER40... Show More
