Straight talking from the Editor’s keyboard;
The latest financials published by MAPFRE for 2024 are the best in the company’s history, with profits up by 29%, premiums up 4.5% and the Latam area countries providing the biggest chunk of Group profit, despite those countries having a generally lower income per capita than say North America or Europe.
What that shows is that people choose cover based on value, not price, and the promise of payment on claims. Interstingly Life protection product revenues are up 3.6% in Latam countries, where “free” healthcare from the State is at best patchy in terms of quality and delivery.
HEALTH DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT IS THE REAL LIFE INSURANCE WORTH HAVING
Life insurance is a tough sell. You get the cash when you die, so only your loved ones benefit. Brits are not as altruistic as they were once were, or as married in traditional families. But the big opportunity is health insurance that prevents you from losing your life in the first place.
IE thinks that UK insurance brands are still not able to grasp the long term impact of the two-tier treatment service now installed across the NHS, where those who migrate to the UK are given preferential service over the taxpaying population who grew up here. That vindictive health apartheid system is reason enough for those with jobs paying over 35K a year to fund their own healthcare and Life cover. But big insurance brands are not selling to that need.
Instead a litany of 1990s style “what if someone dies?” TV adverts continue to sell life insurance as a lump sum payout that magically provides shiny new cars, kids picnics and new gadgets. This sudden loss of a breadwinner via death is NOT the threat to family life in the 2020s. The danger is debilitating illness, which takes away your income and is NOT treated quickly by an NHS obsessed with DEI, Palestine and mass migration. From GPs to Consultants, the NHS is failing to diagnose and treat patients rapidly before conditions become life-threatening.
That high quality, private healthcare at the point of need is the insurance cover people want, not funeral plans.
BORING SAVINGS PLANS? NOT SO BORING AT 42% UP IN PREMIUM REVENUES
Another detail in the MAPFRE results is stark; Life savings policies are up by 42% as people decide to create their own pension pot, which the woke government cannot grab and spend on wind turbines or transgenders theatre productions in Iraq. Again, there is a huge market for ring-fenced savings schemes with a payout at 25-35 years, which is affordable and invests in profitable companies, not social enterprises aiming to police people’s opinions.
FINALLY THE DIVIDEND
The payoff for shareholders in MAPFRE this year is a 9.5 cents (euro) per share. The standout UK insurer in this regard is Avuva, which paid a one off 11.9p per share last year. The average is closer to 7.7p per share usually. Hats off to Phoenix Group, who pay around 9.5p per share too.
Others, who we won’t name are sometimes paying less than 1p per share. Where is the incentive to investors? How can UK listed insurance brands grow internationally if the reward for shareholders is less than the interest on a High Street bank account?
Food for thought hopefully, meanwhile here are the MAPFRE highlights;
MAPFRE RESULTS
The attributable result stands at €902 million (+30%), once the €90 million goodwill write-down in Verti Germany is applied.
· Premiums are up 4.5% (+6.6% at constant exchange rates), reaching over €28.1 billion, with advances in almost all lines of business, with revenue standing at almost €33.2 billion.
· The technical improvement in Non-Life continues, with the combined ratio improving almost 3 points to 94.4%, and a higher contribution from the recurring financial result (+5.5%).
· The adjusted ROE reaches 12% and shareholders’ equity grows 5.4% to over €8.5 billion.
· IBERIA’s result grows to €367 million (+€6 million). Excluding the impacts of the BANKIA arbitration in 2023, earnings growth would have surpassed 17%.
· NORTH AMERICA posts a relevant increase in results (+€99 million), consolidating the technical improvements implemented.
· LATAM, which includes BRAZIL, continues to be the highest contributor to Group profit with €408 million (+€34 million).
· MAPFRE RE, which includes the reinsurance and global risks businesses, posts historic results of €325 million (+€81 million).
· Under the international accounting standards IFRS 17&9, the attributable result stands at €968 million (+42.9%), the ROE stands at over 11.1%, and shareholders’ equity reaches nearly €8.9 billion.
· The excellent business performance makes it possible to raise the final dividend to 9.5 cents gross per share, bringing the total dividend against 2024 to 16 cents, the highest in MAPFRE’s history (+6.7% compared to the previous year).
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