Talanx warns of industrial lines losses

Talanx experienced a large-loss burden in industrial lines between January and September 2018 of more than €260 million which is expected to have exceeded the large loss budget for the entire year.

The group that owns Hannover Re has faced several large losses and an unusually large accumulation of frequency losses in industrial property insurance. In the third quarter, this is likely to have led to a quarterly loss before taxes in the industrial lines division of more than €100 million.

At the same time, Talanx is very optimistic with regards to the fire line within the industrial lines division. The changes already completed in management and the “20/20/20” programme are expected to lead to a balanced underwriting result in 2019 and to a positive underwriting result in the division from 2020. The “20/20/20” programme is directed towards reducing the combined ratio in the burdened 20 percent of the industrial lines portfolio to significantly less than 100 percent by 2020. By the middle of October, more than 60 percent of the rate increases were already under contract. All the other divisions, retail Germany, retail international and reinsurance, are developing in line with expectations.

Talanx is now assuming a group net income of around €700 million for the year 2018 overall. The return on equity is correspondingly likely to be around 8 percent and therefore at the level of the target for minimum return on equity. This earnings forecast is based on the assumption of a large loss burden for the fourth quarter within the scope of a quarterly budget. From today’s perspective, a dividend payout for 2018 at least equal to the year-earlier level is assured.

Talanx is expecting group net income amounting to around €900 million for the coming financial year 2019 and this entails a higher profit than originally planned for 2018.

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