Financials: Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty

Allianz GCS has published its latest results and GWP are up by 30%. Impressive. Here are some of the highlights from the release;

• Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty UK continued its trend of positive development, increasing gross written premiums (GWP) by almost 30%, with a strong performance across all lines driven by new business.
• Allianz Partners continued its successful growth journey, increasing revenue to £337m, capitalising on recent new business wins, positive market recovery and rate increases across the travel market.
• Euler Hermes rebranded to Allianz Trade, increasing awareness and further strengthening its presence in the UK market. Trade credit insurance performed well, realising good growth driven by strong new business generation, high customer retention and higher volume.
• Allianz Holdings continued to achieve growth across the business demonstrating the strength and balance of its product portfolio.

Commenting on the figures, Colm Holmes, CEO Allianz Holdings, said: “Undoubtedly 2022 was a tough year for the industry and trading performance was impacted by several large weather events and ongoing inflationary pressures which have impacted profitability. Despite these challenges, we have still achieved growth across our business and these results demonstrate that we have the scale and diversity to withstand even the most difficult of market conditions.”

Business Performance:

During a year of economic uncertainty and challenging trading conditions, Allianz Holdings delivered growth across the business with a 4.4% increase in revenue to £3,966m (FY2021: 3,798m). Operating profit fell by 58% to £132m (FY2021: £318m) and the Combined Operating Ratio (COR) deteriorated to 99.2% (FY2021: 93.2%), driven mainly by the impact of double-digit claims inflation, several significant weather events and the company’s exposure to the motor market.

All parts of the business continued to be impacted by the rapid rise of inflation. Overall, Allianz experienced gross inflation of 9.5%¹, which was ahead of predictions and pricing assumptions at the beginning of 2022. The motor market in particular faced a combination of challenges including labour shortages, rising repair costs and supply chain pressures, all of which continue to present an issue.

Pets, Repairs and EVs

Allianz noted a 3.6% growth in Personal Lines revenues, plus a positive response from the market to Petplan. Commercial Lines GWP was up just over 6%. The new ElectricX product, which is aimed at leaseholders who rent an EV and want lease, plus insurance, plus charging account in one package has also shown good initial growth, says AGCS.

The company is also launching a new charging point inspection service for the fleet market.

AGCS extended its partnership with Synetiq last year, with the bodyshop network fitting a higher percentage of green, or recycled, car parts. This trend is likely to expand as further Net Zero regulation comes down the pipeline at the claims sector, irrespective of which political party is in government.

More details from AGCS on their results here.