November 28 (SeeNews) - Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) said on Wednesday that it has posted a pre-tax loss of 75.3 million euro ($85.1 million) from its operations in Romania in the first nine months of 2018, compared to a 8.6 million euro profit in the like period of last year, according to preliminary data.
This loss was primarily caused by a goodwill write-down of 50.1 million euro and to a reserve strengthening in the motor lines of business in the third quarter of 2018, the company said in a conference call presentation of its first-half preliminary unaudited results posted on the corporate website.
Total gross written premiums of VIG's Romanian units rose by an annual 5.2% to 392.9 million euro in the January-September period, due to strong premium growth in motor own damage insurance.
The increase was primarily due to strong premium development in the motor lines of business.
VIG's premiums from MTPL insurance in Romania rose by 1.4% on the year to 129 million euro in the first nine months, while casco premiums rose 9.7% to 103.8 million euro and other property premiums grew 3.3% to 71.8 million euro.
Premiums from regular life insurance on the Romanian market added 11.2% year-on-year to 35 million euro, while single life insurance rose by 2.3% to 44.3 million euro. Health insurance premiums doubled to 8 million euro in the nine months through September.
The group's net combined ratio in Romania was 106.4% in the first nine months of 2018 compared to 98.2% in the year ago period.
VIG's operations in Romania posted a pre-tax profit of 3.2 million euro in 2017, compared to a 1.5 million euro profit in 2016.
In Romania, VIG is represented by three insurance companies - Omniasig Non-life, Asirom, BCR Life and Axa Life.
($= 0.884 euro)