August 19 (SeeNews) - Slovenia's biggest insurer Zavarovalnica Triglav [LJE:ZVTG] said on Friday its first-half consolidated net profit plunged 36% on the year to 34.2 million euro ($38.7 million) mostly due to lower investment returns.
Triglav's return on investment declined by an annual 39%, while a record-low interest rate environment on financial markets deepened the material impact on the group’s net results, it said in a bourse filing, quoting preliminary data.
The group’s insurance and co-insurance premium edged down to 506.6 million euro in January-June from 507.8 million euro a year earlier. Non-life insurance total stood flat from last year at 344.9 million euro, life insurance dropped 3% to 105.4 million euro, while health insurance increased 3% to 56.2 million euro.
In Slovenia, Zavarovalnica Triglav's insurance premium fell 1% on the year to 329.8 million euro, whilst that of Triglav, Zdravstvena zavarovalnica and that of Skupna pokojninska druzba increased by 3% and 4%, respectively, to 56.6 million euro and 14.4 million euro.
In the other five countries of the Adria region, all insurance subsidiaries of the group recorded premium growth. The highest growth of 20% was seen in Serbia, where premiums reached 17.1 million euro, followed by Croatia with 12% increase to 28.8 million euro, Montenegro with 6% to 14.5 million euro, and Macedonia with 5% to 11.5 million euro.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, a 12% growth was recorded by the insurer in Sarajevo where premiums reached 11 million euro, whilst the Banja Luka subsidiary recorded a 3% premium increase to 2.7 million euro.
Triglav employed 5,174 at the end of June, down 4% from a year earlier.
It had a 37% share in the Slovene insurance market, where 14 insurance companies, 4 foreign branch offices and 2 reinsurance companies operate. The total gross written premium of the Slovenian insurance sector reached 1.06 billion euro in the first half, largely the same as in the same period of 2015.
($=0.8829 euro)