Ageas returns to Q1 profit despite hit on premiums

Ageas has returned to a Q1 profit of £9.4m after the impact of the Ogden rate change resulted in a loss over the same period last year.

The result was in spite of reduced gross inflows (shown below), across motor, household and other lines of the business, which was put down to “a continued focus on pricing and underwriting discipline.”  

It meant the 13% reduction in GWP for this year’s Q1 (£393.3m vs £449.8m) still resulted in an operating profit before tax of £10.2m, compared to a loss of £4.6m for the same period last year.

As well as recovering from the shock of the Ogden rate change, there was also a benefit in the 2018 Q1 result from a higher positive run-off from previous years, having cut loss-making areas of the business.

The combined operating ratio showed significant improvement on Q1 last year, from 110% to 100.7%, and excluding the effect of the weather and Ogden impacts, it improved to 98.5% from 102.4%.

However, the adverse weather caused by the ‘beast from the east’ this year did hit the household side of the business, with the COR at 116.2% compared to 108.6%.