Hannover Re grows 18% in Q1

Hannover Re has boosted gross premium by 17.6 percent year on year to €5.3 billion, an increase of 27.5 percent adjusted for exchange rate effects.

The retention climbed to 91.3 percent (89.6 percent). Net premium earned increased by 7.0 percent to €4.0 billion (€3.7 billion). At constant exchange rates growth of 16.1 percent would have been booked.

Growth was driven by property/casualty reinsurance as conditions improved, the company said in a statement. The hurricane events in the second half of 2017 provided impetus for greater stability in property/casualty reinsurance.

Increases in premium were achieved in Asia, Australia and the UK while structured reinsurance was a particularly important growth driver. In the area of cyber covers, too, stronger demand opened up business opportunities. Gross written premium consequently climbed by 27.1 percent year on year to €3.6 billion (€2.8 billion); adjusted for exchange rate effects, the increase would have been as high as 38.8 percent.

With net expenditure on large losses of €73.4 million (€133.7 million), the first quarter was impacted less heavily than the comparable period and thus came in below the quarterly budget of €167 million.

The underwriting result for property/casualty reinsurance was on the level of the previous year (€90.7 million) at €91.8 million. The combined ratio stood at 95.9 percent (95.6 percent).

Overall, group net income reached €273.4 million, surpassing the previous year's figure of €264.8 million by 3.3 percent.

Both business groups, namely property/casualty and life/health reinsurance, as well as the investments performed favourably and supported the attainment of the goals set for the full year, the company said.

"We made the most of the available opportunities on the reinsurance markets and substantially expanded our portfolio,” CEO Ulrich Wallin commented. “With group net income of €273.4 million we have taken the first step towards achieving our year-end target of more than €1 billion", Wallin noted.

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