SCOR’s Kessler sees ‘strong Q1 2019 results’ ahead of AGM

SCOR has enjoyed a “strong start” to 2019 according to Denis Kessler chairman and CEO as he unveiled the re/insurer’s Q1 results ahead of its annual general meeting today.

Gross written premiums were up 5.7 percent to €3.9 billion for Q1 2019 versus €3.7 billion in the same quarter in 2018.

However, net income for the first quarter were €131 million, down 21.1 percent compared with €166 million in Q1 2018. CFO Mark Kociancic said: “Overall, SCOR’s net income for Q1 is at €131 million, which translates into a return on equity of 9 percent and is above the ‘Vision in Action’ target.”

Kessler said: “The strong start to 2019 bears witness to the depth of SCOR’s franchise and the relevance of the group’s strategy. The group’s technical profitability is highly satisfactory, as demonstrated respectively by the P&C combined ratio and the Life technical margin.

"Both the solvency ratio and the ROE are in line with the targets of the plan. SCOR continues to create long-term value and provides its shareholders with attractive returns, raising the dividend per share to €1.75 subject to approval by today’s annual general meeting.”

Kociancic added: “We demonstrated good value creation capability by successfully combining profitable growth, good technical profitability and strong solvency. And we wrote approximately €4 billion of GWP in the first quarter. This represents a 5.7 percent increase over Q1 2018 at current exchange rates.”

Kociancic identified the key drivers of growth for the quarter as “excellent growth” in P&C of 16.1 percent at current FX on the back of disciplined renewals, which he said had “benefited from improved profitability and price increases”.

“SCOR Global P&C continues to expand its franchise in the US where we have a unique position to gain market share.

“In Life premiums are down 1.1 percent at current FX, primarily due to the renewal of a Financial Solutions Deal as fee income under deposit accounting which has no impact on profitability. So, had this deal been renewed as premium, growth would have been +2.5 percent in Life.”

Kociancic emphasised the P&C combined ratio of 94.6 percnet with a nat cat ratio of 6.5 percent as a highlight of the company’s technical profitability.

He said: “The normalised net combined ratio stands at 95.1 percent, which is inline with the ‘Vision in Action’ assumptions of 95/96 percent, while the Life technical margin reached 7.2 percent.”

He also highlighted SCOR Global Investments for delivering a return on invested assets of 2.8 percent driven by an income yield of 2.7 percent.

The CFO said the group’s solvency position remained “very strong at 219 percent”.

“This is at the upper end of the optimal range of the solvency scale. And SCOR continues to provide an attractive remuneration policy with a dividend of €1.75 per share, which will be proposed at the AGM this morning.”

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