Ljubljana - Triglav Group, Slovenia's largest insurer, saw its net profit in the first three quarters of the year increase by 48% on the same period a year ago to EUR 75.2 million as consolidated gross written premium rose by 10% to EUR 1.06 billion. The group expects to trump the initially planned annual profit target.

In a regulatory filing posted with the Ljubljana Stock Exchange on Wednesday, the company said it expected the annual profit to range from EUR 115 and 125 million considering the business conditions anticipated by the end of the year.

In 2022 the group plans to increase its written premium volume to over EUR 1.4 billion and profit before tax to EUR 120-130 million.

The group has revised its strategy until 2025 where it sticks to the key existing guidelines and upgrades them in terms of development activities. In the period it plans a 10% return on equity and in 2025 total income is projected to exceed EUR 1.6 billion.

The January-September consolidated profit before tax was up by 48% year-on-year to EUR 92.1 million; EUR 66 million was generated from non-life insurance and EUR 9.6 million from health insurance, both of which posted a 25% growth. Meanwhile, earnings from life and pension insurance were slightly down to EUR 10.0 million.

The profit of non-insurance companies rose by 190% to EUR 6.5 million.

Andrej Slapar, chairman of Zavarovalnica Triglav, was quoted as saying that the group had "achieved very good results both in underwriting activities and in the management of clients' assets, while insurance portfolio returns were predictably affected by the low interest rate environment".

The group posted growth in gross written premium in all markets and all three insurance segments. In Slovenia it stood at 8%, four percentage points above the market, while reaching 16% in other markets. Non-life insurance premium rose by 12%, life and pension insurance premium by 9% and health insurance premium by 1%.

The report said the volume of gross claims paid of EUR 521.6 million did not deviate significantly from the comparative period in the previous two years.

"The claims segment continued to be affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in a lower frequency of claims in some insurance classes and an increased volume of claims in others due to last year's disruption to some services," the company said.

As of the end of September, the group had 7% more in gross insurance technical provisions than at the end of the year.

Low interest rates affected the group's return on investment portfolio, which amounted to EUR 3.60 billion. The situation in the financial markets and net inflows had a positive effect on the performance of the asset manager Triglav Skladi and on the volume of clients' assets managed in mutual funds and discretionary mandate assets. These assets rose by 21% from the end of 2020 to EUR 1.40 billion.