Sompo International's Q1 combined ratio improves to 94%

By Michael Jones

Aug 14 - (The Insurer) - Sompo International's undiscounted combined ratio improved by 2.9 percentage points year on year to 94% for the first quarter of its financial year, parent Sompo Holdings disclosed on Thursday.

Its commercial insurance combined ratio deteriorated by 5.2 points to 93.9% for the three-month period, while better-than-expected catastrophe loss experience resulted in its global reinsurance combined ratio improving by 10.9 points to 85.8%. Sompo Holdings' first quarter runs from the start of April to the end of June.

Sompo International's insurance service result grew by 30% year on year to $386 million for its fiscal first quarter. It said premium growth outweighed the increase in technical expenses due to strong underwriting performance.

Insurance revenue increased by 9% year on year to $3.9 billion for the quarter. This included growth of 8.3% in commercial insurance to $2.79 billion and 3.2% in global reinsurance to $810 million.

Sompo International also reported 37% growth in consumer insurance to $321 million, primarily driven by growth in motor.

Adjusted profit for Sompo International was up 26.6% from the prior-year period to $376 million for the first quarter.

Group adjusted consolidated after-tax profit increased 34.7% year on year to 99.7 billion yen ($680 million). This was helped by an increase in adjusted profit for Sompo P&C from 16.8 billion yen for the prior-year period to 34 billion yen.