Insurance
Home›Insurance›Industry & Deals›Coface profit drops 13% in first half as credit insura…
Coface profit drops 13% in first half as credit insurance shrinks
Net income fell to 107.8 million euros for the half, while the combined ratio held at 71.3% and retention stayed near a record 93.6%.
Coface reported first-half net income of 107.8 million euros, down 13.2% from 124.2 million euros a year earlier, as its core trade credit insurance market continued to contract, according to Insurance Business.
Total revenue rose 0.8% at constant exchange rates to 939.3 million euros, but credit insurance revenue declined 0.8% on the same basis, pressured by negative pricing of 1.3%. Even so, client activity and retention held up, with retention at a near-record 93.6%, and the combined ratio after reinsurance was flat year on year at 71.3%.
The net loss ratio improved 2.7 percentage points to 37.4%, offset by a 2.7-point increase in the cost ratio to 33.9% as Coface continued investing under its Power the Core plan.
Non-insurance activities grew, with business information revenue up 12% at constant exchange rates, or 19.1% including the Cedar Rose acquisition, while debt collection revenue jumped 31.6% and factoring rose 3.5%. Coface also said it no longer expects business information to add 50 basis points to group return on average tangible equity by 2027 as previously targeted, planning instead to offset the shortfall through a higher dividend payout from 2028.