Damage and life insurer Baloise reported a general contraction in its business volume last year, driven mainly by provident activities. The negative erosion of profitability will not prevent the board of directors from raising the dividend.
ATS
The total premium volume fell by 8.7% to 8.76 billion francs. The operating surplus (Ebit) withered by 2.4% to 705.3 million. Net profit attributable to shareholders sank 6.9% to 548.0 million.
The combined ratio, measuring the cost of each franc earned, deteriorated by around 30 basis points to 91.9% due to the constitution of provisions in anticipation of inflation, lists a report released Thursday .
Shareholders can count on a dividend of 7.40 francs per share, compared to 7.00 francs for 2021.
The performance remains well above the projections of analysts consulted by AWP, which notably capped the volume of premiums at 7.27 billion and net profit at 585 million.
Premiums collected in traditional life insurance fell by almost 7% to 3.97 billion, while those of an investment nature fell by almost a quarter to 1.63 billion. Ebit in this segment was trimmed by 7.4% to 376.7 million, affected by demanding market conditions.
Contributions in the non-life field reached 3.97 billion, down 2.3%. Excluding exchange rate effects, Baloise is claiming growth in all directions in this area. Ebit fell almost 6% to 321.7 million on the back of a lull in claims and lower costs.
Notwithstanding a pruning of more than a third of equity, to 4.55 billion, the firm considers that its solvency ratio according to the Swiss Solvency Test (SST) exceeded 230% on January 1.
For the time being, management is not venturing into the field of quantified prospects for the current financial year. At most, it warns that the first half will be marked by the adoption of the new accounting standards IFRS 17 and 9.
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