VIG's pre-tax profit in CEE markets soars in H1

August 30 (SeeNews) - Austria's Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) said on Wednesday that the first-half result before taxes of its extended Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) market segment, which includes nine Southeast European countries, surged to 104 million euro ($113.2 million) from 28.2 million a year earlier.

Insurance service revenue in the CEE segment grew by an annual 21.8% in January-June to over 1.5 billion euro, boosted by the first-time consolidation of Alfa, formerly Aegon, in Hungary, growth in Slovakian non-life insurance and good developments in casco insurance in Romania and Bulgaria, VIG said in an interim financial statement.

The result exceeded the 13.7% year-on-year growth rate in overall group insurance service revenue, which stood at 5.38 billion euro as of end-June.

However, the insurance service result in CEE declined to 75.8 million euro in the first half of this year from 81.6 million euro a year ago. This is VIG's first half-year financial report under the new under IFRS 17/9 accounting standards, the company noted.

According to the statement, the group booked total gross written premiums (GWP) of 7.3 billion euro, which represents an increase of 10.8% compared to the same period of 2022 and reflects growth in all segments.

"Against a backdrop of continuing challenges such as the ongoing war in Ukraine, high inflation, and an uncertain economic outlook, VIG’s performance in the first half of 2023 is extremely positive," newly appointed CEO Hartwig Loeger said.

Looking ahear, VIG expects a reduction in performance in the second half of 2023 as a result of recent adverse weather events, which have compounded the already weak macroeconomic environment and financial markets volatility. The group forecasts a result before taxes bertween 700 and 750 million euro for the full-year 2023 under the new accounting standards.

VIG's extended CEE segment includes Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia as well as the Baltic states, Slovakia, Ukraine and Hungary.

At the start of June, Aegon announced the completion of its exit from the CEE region after closing the disposal to VIG of its businesses in Poland and Romania for 125 million euro, following the earlier sale of the Hungarian business.

($ = 0.9188 euro)