February 13 (SeeNews) - Slovenian reinsurer Sava Re [LJE:POSR] said on Monday it is planning to achieve a consolidated net profit of 31 - 33 million euro ($33 - 35 million) in 2017, and a return on equity of over 10%.
The company plans consolidated written gross premiums of 494 million euro this year, it said in a Ljubljana bourse filing.
Growth has been planned primarily in non-Slovenian markets, with 4% increase expected for non-life business and 6% rise seen for life business. The target combined ratio - non-life and reinsurance business - for 2017 is 95%.
"The key direction for 2017 at the group level is client focus and accelerated enhancement of processes across the group to achieve this. The group will focus on organic growth in new reinsurance markets and markets outside Slovenia where it is present," Sava Re said.
In 2016, the reinsurer booked about 490 million euro in gross premiums, which is an increase of 0.8% over 2015 and 0.4% more than planned.
The non-life insurance segment in Slovenia comprises Zavarovalnica Sava, which wrote 256 million euro in non-life premiums, up by 2.4% over 2015. "The growth was mostly driven by commercial lines, motor and credit business," Sava Re explained.
The Slovenian life insurance premiums, which comprises Zavarovalnica Sava and Moja nalozba, totalled 80 million euro in premiums, down 0.2% from 2015 owing to an increase in the number of policy maturities in 2016.
Reinsurance operations generated 93 million euro in gross premiums, a drop by 5.4% from the previous year. "This decline is a result of lower levels of premium income by cedents from South Korea due to a restructuring of their programmes," the company said.
Apart from this, Sava Re generated solid growth in international markets. It expanded by 12% on the Asian market excluding South Korea, by 29% on the African market, and by 13% in Latin American excluding Panama.
Non-life insurance premiums outside Slovenia grew by 4.8% to 55 million euro, while life insurance premiums outside Slovenia grew by 10.9% to 7 million euro.
"Excluding the Kosovo market, where premium volume continued to shrink slightly in 2016, insurance operations in international markets grew by 8%," Sava Re also said.
Last year, Sava Re carried out a merger of its EU-based insurers. In November, the merged insurer Zavarovalnica Sava started operating in Slovenia and Croatia.
"Thanks to an effective advertising campaign, the name was immediately accepted in the Slovenian insurance market and the new brand identified with the key attributes that will support the group's continued operations," the company commented.
This year, Sava Re will focus on unlocking synergistic benefits, which will fully unfold in the coming years, it also said.
($=0.9436 euro)