Ljubljana, 23 August (STA) - The insurance group Sava increased its turnover in by 14.0% in the first half of the year to EUR 563.8 million, wile net profit grew 11.1% to EUR 44.5 million year-on-year, shows an unaudited report released by the company on Friday. Sava noted that growth was recorded in all operating segments.
Sava, which is also present with subsidiaries in Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo, said that particularly strong growth was recorded for property and life insurance. The growth in property insurance was due to price increases and partly new insurance policies, while in life insurance, it was primarily due to successful sales, the group's parent company, Save Re, wrote.
These factors contributed most to the growth in insurance revenue, which amounted to EUR 388.1 million between January and June. This is 18.2% more than in the same period last year.
The group's total insurance expenses in the first half of the year amounted to EUR 304.1 million, EUR 26.2 million more than the previous year.
The net profit from insurance operations was EUR 56.8 million, 17.7% higher than in the first half of last year. It strengthened due to increased property insurance prices, organic growth, and more favourable claims in the reinsurance segment.
Sava recorded a lower net profit from insurance operations in the EU property segment, due to the major June storm that affected the claims volume by EUR 8.3 million, and the rise in reinsurance coverage prices and retention due to last year's storms. Costs grew less than insurance revenue, which improved the combined ratio by 0.4 percentage points to a favourable 89.7%.
The company stressed that in the first half of the year, they successfully implemented the business plan for this year and achieved 61% of the planned business volume for the entire year.
The group's operations in the third quarter will be affected by the July hailstorms. Their impact on the operating result for the third quarter is estimated at EUR 16.5 million.
The management has maintained its original forecast of at least EUR 70 million net profit for this financial year.
It wrote that the group continues to be exposed to larger claims and higher claim frequency, as well as financial market volatility and other potential environmental impacts. It thus added that despite a favourable first half, it is premature to provide any estimates of performance until the end of the year that would deviate from the group's business plan for 2024.
