Vienna Insurance Group Results: GWP Up 10%, Profit Up 118%

The latest financials published by the Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) show a strong set of results for the first half of 2023. The company says these results are being presented for the first time in accordance with the IFRS 9 Financial Instruments and IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts accounting standards. Here’s an extract;

VIG anticipates a weak macroeconomic environment and volatile capital markets going forward and for 2023 as a whole. “The considerable number of uncertainties limits the ability to predict our business performance for the second half of 2023. Results are likely to be dampened due to the severe weather events this summer and the probability for further extreme weather. We expect a result before taxes for the Group between EUR 700 million and EUR 750 million for 2023 as a whole”, says Hartwig Löger.

All IFRS values reported refer to the IFRS 9 and IFRS 17 accounting standards, which have been applied for the first time. The 2022 figures have been adjusted on the basis of these standards and can no longer be compared to figures previously published for the 2022 financial year.

Increase in gross written premiums in all segments
VIG achieved gross written premiums in the amount of EUR 7,306.7 million in the first half of 2023. This represents a significant increase of 10.8% compared to the previous year’s figure of EUR 6,595.1 million. All reportable segments show premium growth compared to the first half of the previous year. Poland, Extended CEE and Special Markets segments performed particularly well.

Result before taxes up significantly to EUR 463 million
The result before taxes increased significantly in the first half of 2023, improving by 118.4% to EUR 462.9 million (first half of 2022: EUR 212.0 million). The result in the previous year was strongly affected by interest rate developments during the reporting period and by measures in the amount of EUR 126.1 million in connection with the Russian government and corporate bond exposure of. By contrast, a profit of EUR 20.3 million was generated in the 1st half of 2023 through the sale of Russian government and cor¬porate bonds.

Under IFRS 17, Vienna Insurance Group primarily applies the Variable Fee Approach (VFA) to its long-term life and health insurance business. This accounts for around 75% of technical reserves. Due to the significant rise in the yield curve last year, the contribution from these areas in the first half of 2022 was significantly lower.

Read the full release here.