The country's biggest insurer, Hibernian, has this morning reported a 21% increase in operating profits to €150m in the first six months to the end of June. This compares to a figure of €123.7m the same time last year.
The Life and Pensions division saw new business up by 16% to €74.2m compared to 2004. However, general insurance premium income was down to €394m.
'We have seen six strong months of growth across the business,' commented Bryan Jenkins, Hibernian's CEO. 'In general insurance, profits grew despite a fall in premium income, this strong result reflects a combination of disciplined underwriting and lower claims costs',' he said.
He said that Hibernian has been consistent in its efforts to 'put the customer first' and to reduce the cost of insurance cover, while at the same time rewarding responsible driving. He said that as a result, many customers have seen their motor insurance return to 1999 levels.
Mr Jenkins said that market competitiveness had kept margins down in its lift and pensions division. He added that results were helped by strong growth in single premium pension sales, including securing a number of large pension contracts.
Single premium investment was also very positive during the first half of the year, boosted by its Guaranteed Fund.
Hibernian's parent company Aviva, Britain's biggest insurer, today reported a 22% rise in interim operating profits, helped by a strong performance in general insurance and robust growth its European life and pensions business.
Aviva said operating profits - income earned before tax and interest payments - climbed to £1.318 billion sterling in the six months to June 30. That compared with £1.076 billion for the first half of last year and beat analysts' consensus forecasts of £1.221 billion. Operating profits, meanwhile, rose by 21% on a constant currency basis.
Aviva said that profits in general insurance rose 18% to £694m, thanks in part to subdued claims growth. Profits from life, pensions and investment products were up by a more moderate 5% to £857m, with a slight dip in British sales partly offsetting a strong performance in Europe.
British sales were down 1.2% at £4.244m, hit by stiff competitions from rivals such as Prudential and Legal & General. In contrast, European sales jumped 21% to £6.218 billion, driven by recent deals to sell policies to consumers through banks.
Aviva added that the integration of British vehicle breakdown service RAC - acquired in January for £1.1 billion - was proceeding according to plan.
The UK company also said long-term prospects for the savings market were encouraging because of possible British government plans to encourage workers to save more for their retirement.
