Zurich Insurance Profit Falls
May 12 2016 - 5:00AM
Dow Jones News
ZURICH—Zurich Insurance Group AG on Thursday said its
first-quarter net profit fell 28%, but it was able to flag
improvements in its core business.
The Swiss insurance giant said net profit for the three months
ended in March fell to $875 million from $1.22 billion in the same
period last year. Gross written premiums declined to $12.8 billion
from $13.8 billion.
Return on investments in the quarter improved to 2.7%, compared
with 2.6% in the period last year, the company said.
Gross written premiums for general insurance, Zurich Insurance's
largest business, slipped to $9.1 billion from $10.1 billion.
However, the company cited improved profitability at the unit.
Shares of Zurich Insurance rose 2.7% in midmorning European
trade.
The company has been navigating a difficult period which has
seen its chief executive replaced and thousands of jobs cut.
In March, former Assicurazioni Generali SpA Chief Executive
Mario Greco returned to Zurich Insurance, where he once ran the
general insurance business.
"The biggest issue is the reputation, the credibility of the
company," Mr. Greco said during a media briefing Thursday. "This is
the most important thing to restore."
Mr. Greco added that it is too early to disclose details of his
strategic plans.
For the first quarter, the general insurance business reported a
combined ratio of 97.7%—an improvement over the 103.6% reported for
all of 2015. The combined ratio is a measure of how much is paid on
claims and costs for each dollar earned, and a ratio of less than
100% means that an insurance firm's underwriting business is
profitable.
Zurich Insurance said improvement at the general insurance
business should continue. "We expect performance to strengthen
further as the year progresses," Chief Financial Officer George
Quinn said during the briefing.
Write to John Letzing at john.letzing@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 12, 2016 04:45 ET (08:45 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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