Generali, from January to September 2021, recorded sharply growing profits. There is talk of a net profit up 74% to 2,25 billion at the maximum of the consensus range. The RThe operating result is 4,4 billion (+10%), thanks to the Life, Asset Management and Holding segments and other businesses. The contribution of the Non-Life segment proved to be resilient, despite the higher incidence of catastrophic claims. This is what emerged from last night's board meeting
of the first Italian insurance company, on the eve of a very complex renewal of top management.
Gross premiums also did well, reaching 54,9 billion (+6,4% compared to 2020 when they amounted to 52 billion)), growing both in Life (+6,5%) and Non-Life (+6,2 %). Life net inflows grew to 9,5 billion (+3%), entirely concentrated in the unit-linked and pure risk lines. Combined Ratio at 91,3% (+1,6 pp) and New Business Margin excellent at 4,76% (+0,66 pp) The Solvency Ratio remains solid at 233% (224% in the whole of 2020).
Also very good for the part of managed savings: the operating result of asset management was 451 million euros, up 32% compared to the nine months of 2020 which closed at 342 million. Operating revenues amounted to 761 million (+19,7% on 2020). The net result stood at 334 million against 250 in 2020 (+33,4%). The total value of the assets under management managed by the segment amounted to 571,3 billion (+1,8%). Thanks mainly to the contribution of positive net inflows, third party assets under management managed by the segment went from 104 billion at the end of 2020 to 117 billion, of which 7,8 billion deriving from the 2020 agreements entered into with Cattolica Assicurazioni.
There is also a significant improvement non-operating result of the group which stood at -731 million from -1,3 billion in the first nine months of 2020. The significant improvement mainly reflects the lower write-downs on investments classified as available for sale (particularly significant in 2020 due to the effects of the pandemic on the markets) and the increase in realized profits, concentrated in the real estate sector, in particular for 67 million deriving from the operation on the Libeskind tower in Milan CityLife and for 80 million relating to the on the Saint Gobain tower in Paris. Non-operating result for 2020 had been mainly impacted by the write-down of the goodwill relating to the life business of the company in Switzerland for 93 million, the charges deriving from the liability management operation for 94 million and the one-off charge of 100 million for the Extraordinary International Fund for Covid-19. The impact of interest expense on financial debt improved, following the debt optimization strategy.
"These results, fully in line to successfully complete the 'Generali 2021' strategic plan, represent a solid basis for the new three-year plan that we will present to the market on December 15th," said Generali's chief financial officer, Cristiano Borean.
As for the group outlook, although uncertainty remains for the development of further variants of Covid-19, the current scenario, thanks to the diffusion of vaccines, "still foresees a recovery of the global economy, supported by expansionary, monetary and fiscal policies, even if this support is he expects to slow down. The global insurance sector, both Life and Non-Life, will benefit from the positive macroeconomic scenario.
The group confirms and continues with the strategy of rebalancing of the Life portfolio to further strengthen profitability and with a logic of more efficient capital allocation. In Danni, Generali's objective in the mature insurance markets in which the group operates is «to maintain the positive trend in premium income accompanied by good profitability, despite the higher incidence of catastrophic claims and, at the same time, to strengthen in markets with high potential, expanding its presence and offer». During 2021, with reference to the Asset Management segment, actions aimed at developing expansion will continue in private and real assets, where Generali can leverage its capabilities and its commitment to support the economic recovery, which will be accompanied by the iIncreased high conviction and multi-asset product catalog for clients and partners and distribution capacity.
Leveraging all these initiatives and in the light of the results for the nine months of 2021, Generali confirms the objective of a 2018-2021 compound annual growth in earnings per share between 6% and 8%. An expected RoE of 2021 greater than 11,5% is also expected. The objective of paying cumulative 2019-2021 dividends of between 4,5 and 5 billion euro was achieved with the disbursement of the second tranche of the 2019 dividend recently carried out.
