VIG controls over a fifth of the Romanian insurance market through three com¬panies – Omniasig, Asirom and BCR Asigurari de Viata.
In 2017, the group had a profit before tax (PBT) of EUR6 million from its Romanian operations. Total revenue stood at EUR343 million in 2018, down 16% year-on-year.
VIG Group reported total underwritings of nearly EUR9.7 billion, up nearly 3% year-on-year, and a profit (before taxes) of EUR485 million, up nearly 10% year-on-year. The combined ratio fell 0.7 percentage points in 2018 to an excellent 96%.
“The preliminary results for 2018 show that we have significantly exceeded our forecasts for all key figures. I therefore see this as a renewed confirmation of our ambition to position ourselves as a stable, reliable partner. This also applies to our focus on Central and Eastern Europe, where we are the leading insurance group today. In large parts of the CEE region we see stable growth and falling unemployment. The markets where we operate are growing, on average, twice as fast as the Eurozone countries. We intend to continue investing in this region and our more than solid solvency ratio of 239 percent provides the necessary financial resources. As a result of the very positive business development, the Managing Board will once again recommend a significant increase in the dividend from EUR 0.90 to EUR 1 per share for the financial year 2018. In the current interest rate environment that corresponds to an attractive dividend yield of 4.9 percent,” said Elisabeth Stadler, CEO of VIG.
The increase in profit was primarily due to the improvement in the combined ratio and good development of the financial result. Particularly large gains were recorded in the segments Baltic States, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Hungary.
Over the last two years, health insurance premiums increased by 20%. In 2018, the increase was 58% in the five key countries of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Turkey, where special activities are performed in this line of business.