FBD has said it is confident that full year operating earnings per share will be ahead of the current average expectations of 86 cent a share - barring exceptional claims events for the rest of the year.
In an interim management update today, the insurance group said that it has maintained a solid trading performance with operating profits seen in the second half of 2009 to date. This is despite the challenging market conditions.
FBD said that insurance risk across the Irish industry continues to fall in line with the level of economic activity and consumer spending. It said that market rate increases have continued into the second half of the year so far, offsetting some of the fall in market volumes and cover.
It said it continues to target on increasing its presence in Dublin and other large urban areas. Its personal online offerings - Nononsense.ie and fbd.ie - continue to outperform the market so far this year, and continue to attract a higher number of urban customers.
FBD said that over-supply in the marketplace is the main challenge to its property and leisure business in Ireland and Spain. It said that market capacity needs to reduce to match falling customer demand.
The group said it expects to deliver operating profits in both its underwriting and non-underwriting businesses in 2009 and is confident that it is well positioned to deliver profitable growth and superior returns to sharesholders.
Shares in FBD closed 23 cent higher at €6.63 in Dublin this afternoon, up 3.6%.
