Triglav Half-Year Profit Flat, Annual to be Hit by Storm Damage

Date: 08/28/2008
Category: Latest news

Ljubljana, 28 August (STA) - Slovenia's largest insurer, Zavarovalnica Triglav, has a reported pre-tax profit of EUR 37.9m for the first half of the year, a rise of 1% over the same period in 2007. Triglav chairman Andrej Kocic said the figure "is in line with plans", but warned that the annual profit will be hit by around EUR 60m in payouts due to the recent storm damage.

"The profit in the previous two years was of historic proportions, the biggest ever in the operations of Zavarovalnica Triglav. For this year we set ourselves the goal of a small increase," said Kocic at Thursday's press conference. Premiums collected by the insurer grew 5% to EUR 414.1m, while payouts rose 1% to EUR 170.5m in the first six months of the year. He said data showed that Triglav and its top-up health insurance subsidiary Triglav zdravstvena zavarovalnica controlled 43.9% of the Slovenian market as at the end of June. He said Triglav was a "company that was growing, expanding and consolidating its position" both at home and abroad. However, he warned that the results for the second half of the year would be affected by the series of storms that hit Slovenia in July and August. Storms caused more than EUR 60m in payouts for the insurer, he said. He assured that the majority of the damage reports had already been processed and payouts were being made according to plans. According to Kocic, Triglav's gross costs for the first half of the year amounted to EUR 77.2m, while the insurer's total assets were at EUR 2.4bn, up 3% since the end of 2007. Of the total assets, EUR 1.7bn is made up of the insurer's gross provisions. Kocic also revealed that the insurer was today filing a request with the Ljubljana Stock Exchange for the much-anticipated listing of its shares. "We asked to be listed on 30 September, but the exact day will be decided by the Ljubljana Stock Exchange," he added.