Switzerland’s oldest private insurance company has significantly increased its half-year profit. It has collected more premiums and benefited from the good performance of the stock markets – and also from the soaring price of gold.
The Mobiliar Group can look back on a positive first half of the year, with both premium volume and profit increasing significantly. Gross premiums increased by 5.8 percent to 3.5 billion francs, and profits increased by 28.6 percent to 293 million francs.
In the non-life business, the insurer earned 2.9 billion francs in gross premiums, an increase of 5.7 percent. This further strengthened the company’s position in the market, according to the Message from WednesdayThe direct business also grew faster than the market (although Mobiliar uses figures from the Swiss Insurance Association as a comparison).
Severe storms impact non-life business
However, severe weather events left their mark in the first half of the year. “In June, severe storms led to major natural damage in Valais (floods), in the southern Graubünden valley of Misox (landslide), in the Jura (hail) and in Ticino (floods).” Mobiliar is expecting natural damage of more than 75 million francs for the first half of the year. This has an impact on the technical result (technical income minus expenses). It fell from 146 million to 84 million francs compared to the previous year, a decrease of 42 percent.
The fact that profits in this division were nevertheless able to increase by 22 percent to 261 million francs is thanks to investment income, which more than doubled to 217 million francs.
Attractive investment results
In the life business, the growth rate in gross premiums (CHF 611 million) was 6 percent. Both occupational and private pensions contributed to this growth, with a good 8 and 4 percent respectively. However, in this sector, investments contributed significantly less than in the previous year (CHF 66 million) than in the previous year (-30 percent). Profit doubled to CHF 30 million.
Mobiliar benefited from the positive market development in terms of its investment and financial result, which totaled CHF 283 million, CHF 87 million higher than in the previous period. Fixed assets increased by almost 5 percent (CHF 21 billion) compared to the end of 2023. The investment return on average invested capital investments at book value was 1.4 percent, and the performance at market value was 5 percent.
A gold content of almost 6 percent
“In particular, equities, which benefited from new highs in the first half of the year, as well as the strong demand for gold were the main drivers here,” writes the insurance company, which has invested gold worth 1,143 million francs in their balance sheet With its gold share of almost 6 percent, the cooperative is likely to have participated more in the sustained bull market of the yellow metal than most other institutional investors in this country.
Founded in 1826, Mobiliar is the oldest private insurance company in Switzerland, counts one in three households and one in three companies among its customers and employs around 6,400 people (including the Principality of Liechtenstein).
