November 5 (SeeNews) - Croatia's top insurer by premium income, majority state-owned Croatia Osiguranje, on Monday reported a 37.7% year-on-year jump in group net profit through September, thanks to a 5.6% rise in premium income and the launch of new products.
“The group's net profit for the first nine months was 148.5 million kuna ($29 million/20 million euro), compared to 107.9 million kuna a year earlier,” company CEO Hrvoje Vojkovic told a news conference.
Group premium income rose by almost 146 million kuna, reaching 2.745 billion. The company has launched a number of new products since the beginning of the current year, including liability insurance for classical swine fever decease and liability insurance for management and supervisory board members and receivers, Vojkovic said.
The insurer’s market share had been falling in the past few years due to aggressive competition on the Croatian insurance market, but has stabilised at around at 37.2%, Vojkovic said. He added the company expects to reverse the fall in its market share in the next few years by a series of innovations like opening a centre for technical check-up of motor vehicles.
The group’s premium income from non-life insurance increased 4.5% to 2.483 billion kuna, while premium income from life insurance was 262 million kuna, up 17.3%. The premium income of all Croatian insurers rose 10% year on year through September.
The company has subsidiaries in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and an affiliate insurer in Macedonia.
The insurer's ordinary shares, part of the Crobex equity index of the Zagreb bourse, traded at 18,150 kuna by 1200 GMT on Monday, up from the previous close of 18,100 kuna.
The government, which owns some 82% of Croatia Osiguranje, plans to sell the company.
(1 euro=7.3419 Croatian kuna)