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Investing.com -- Vienna Insurance Group (VIE:VIGR) said on Wednesday it expects full-year profit before taxes to reach the upper end of its €950 million to €1 billion forecast after reporting higher earnings and revenue in the first half of 2025.
Profit before taxes rose 10.5% from a year earlier to €531.4 million, supported by lower overall claims development.
Results in Poland, where profit increased 51.3%, and in the Czech Republic, where profit grew 18.4%, made the largest contributions.
Gross written premiums increased 8.7% to €8.6 billion. Life insurance without profit participation recorded the strongest gain at 32.7%, followed by unit- and index-linked life insurance at 26.4%.
Health insurance premiums grew 15% and motor third-party liability insurance climbed 12.5%.
Among regional markets, Türkiye rose 23.8%, Poland 15.2% and Romania 14.4%. The Czech Republic and Austria posted growth of 6.7% and 5.2% respectively.
Insurance service revenue advanced 8.1% to €6.4 billion, largely due to property and casualty insurance growth in Central and Eastern Europe, including Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, the Baltic States, Croatia, Serbia and Türkiye.
The company’s net combined ratio improved to 91.9% from 93.3% in the first half of 2024, reflecting fewer weather-related claims and natural catastrophe costs.
The Czech Republic and Poland showed the sharpest improvements, each lowering the ratio by more than four percentage points.
Vienna Insurance Group said its contractual service margin, which includes long-term life and health insurance, rose 8.9% to €6 billion as of June 30. The solvency ratio was 278% with transitional measures, unchanged at a high level.
The group’s total investment portfolio stood at €45.6 billion at the end of June, up 2.3% from December, due mainly to higher bond investments and increases in investment fund values.