Munich Re profits soar in Q2
Reinsurer Munich Re reported a jump in profits in the second quarter of 2015 as it benefited from below-average major losses and a good investment result.
Its profits hit €1.1 billion in the second quarter of 2015, compared with €762 million in the second quarter of 2014.
This prompted the reinsurer to bump up its profit target for 2015 to at least €3 billion. Its previous forecast was between €2.5–3 billion.
Munich Re’s gross premiums written increased in the second quarter by 5.2 percent to €12.5 billion, compared with €11.9 billion in the same period of the prior year. It added that if exchange rates had remained the same, premium volume would have fallen by 4.7 percent year on year.
Its reinsurance business contributed €842 million to the group’s consolidated result for the quarter, compared with €629 million in the second quarter of 2014.
Within the segment, GWP increased by 8.3 percent in the second quarter of 2015 to €7.1 billion, compared with €6.6 billion in the same period of the prior year, while its combined ratio improved to 93.3 percent in the quarter, compared with 101.4 percent in the second quarter of 2014.
Nikolaus von Bomhard, chief executive officer, said: "With a result of around €1.1 billion, Munich Re looks back on a very successful second quarter. Despite a persistently uncertain environment, including ongoing competition in reinsurance, the profitability of our core business remains remarkable.
“After all, our profit of around €1.9 billion in the first half of the year was so high that we are likely to exceed our profit guidance of €2.5–3 billion for the year if claims experience remains within normal bounds in the second half of the year. We now expect to achieve an annual profit of at least €3 billion.
"In order to make sure we retain our competitiveness and profitability in the future, we will increase our efforts to make the most of the opportunities offered by digitalisation, and to open up new business potential by designing innovative solutions."
