By Favour Nnabugwu
Allianz Group, a global insurer and asset manager, has reported an increase in operating profit of almost 7% to €4 billion for the first quarter of 2024, up from last year’s €3.7 billion, driven by the firm’s property and casualty business, supported by good results in the asset management and life and health segments.
Total business volume advanced by 5.3% to €48.4 billion driven by all business segments, as shareholders’ core net income rose to €2.5 billion, a 15.7% increase from 2023’s €2.2 billion.
The insurer’s P&C business segment recorded good price-driven growth, while the increase in the Life/Health business segment was primarily due to favourable sales momentum in the United States and Italy. The growth in the Asset Management business segment benefited from higher assets under management and higher performance fees.
In P&C, total business volume increased by 5.7% to €25.5 billion, compared to €24.1 billion in the prior year. The insurer stated that the main driver for the solid results was “very good” growth of 9% in Retail, SME & Fleet. Commercial lines grew by 4%, meanwhile, the total operating profit for the segment grew strongly by 10.4% to €2.1 billion compared to €1.9 billion in the year prior.
The combined ratio remained flat at 91.9%, with a loss ratio of 67.3% as lower run-off was partly offset by benign claims from natural catastrophes and a better attritional loss ratio.
In its life and health insurance segment, the present value of new business premiums increased to €22.3 billion from €18.5 billion, driven by higher volume in most entities. The main contributors were Allianz Re and positive sales momentum in Italy and the United States. The operating profit remained flat at €1.3 billion and the contractual service margin rose from €52.6 billion at the end of 2023, to €53.2 billion in Q1 2024, with strong normalized CSM growth of 1.7%.
In the asset management segment, for Q1 2024, operating revenues reached €2 billion, an increase of 4.7%, driven by increased AuM and higher performance fees, the operating revenues grew by 5.7%. Operating profit increased to €773 million from €723 million, up by 7%, and the total assets under management were €2.297 trillion at the end of Q1 2024, compared to €73 billion at the end of 2023, in line with the results for the third-party assets under management.
Claire-Marie Coste-Lepoutre, Chief Financial Officer, Allianz, commented, “Allianz’s strong performance in the first quarter demonstrates our unwavering commitment to value creation: In our Property-Casualty operations strong price-driven internal growth and strict underwriting discipline contributed to a very good increase in our operating profit. Benign natural catastrophes and higher investment income also supported the result.
“The widespread new business growth across our Life/Health segment underlined the quality of our global franchise in a competitive environment. Together with an attractive new business margin, this puts us in a very good position for continued value creation. In our Asset Management operations, strong third-party net inflows and exceptional performance fees demonstrated that we successfully managed a volatile capital markets environment. An increase in our third-party AuM and our competitive cost-income ratio position us well for profitable growth.
“We had a very good start into the year and our ability to create value for our shareholders is supported by a strong Solvency II ratio of 203 percent. We confirm our full-year outlook of an operating profit of 14.8 billion euros, plus or minus 1 billion euros.”
Oliver Bäte, Chief Executive Officer, Allianz, said: “Allianz’s strong results demonstrate the quality of our fundamentals, the value of consistency in the execution of our strategy, and the advantage of the broad talents and skillsets that are represented across our organization.
“Our 5 percent business volume growth and double-digit increase in shareholders’ net income signal a strong start to the year. In our Property-Casualty business, solid top-line growth and bottom-line increase reflect the balance of growth and underwriting discipline. The Life/Health new business development confirmed the attractiveness of our broad product portfolio. In our Asset Management operations, net flows in the first quarter already exceeded last year’s full-year levels, underscoring the quality of our business and its value to clients.
“Our proven track record of profitability, resilience, and consistent capital management make us the trusted partner of choice, especially in times of heightened uncertainty and accelerated change.”
