Danish insurance giant Tryg revealed in a press release that its first quarter financial result shows a 602 million kroner profit before tax.
The result is somewhat below expectations and lower than the 759 million kroner profit that the company enjoyed in the first quarter of last year.
Morten Hübbe, Tryg's CEO, said that the lower-than-expected result is due to a drop in investment return and higher costs associated with larger claims.
“Our sales and customer development is higher than the same period last year,” Hübbe said in a press release.
“Premium income has been affected by a market and economy that is barely growing so it is important that we succeed with initiatives designed to improve our effectiveness and ability to compete.”
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Disappointing investment return
Despite the 150 million kroner in costs for larger claims, the technical result has increased by five percent to 523 million kroner from 500 million kroner the year before.
Investment returns were disappointing, falling to 89 million kroner from a quarter of a million earned a year ago.
Tryg wrote that its streamlining program is progressing according to plan and has ”contributed significantly to the result”, while the combined ratio improved nominally from last year, falling to 89.2 from 90.3.
The combined ratio is defined as the sum of losses sustained via insurance claims and operating expenses compared to how much money is earned through premiums.
The full quarterly results can be seen here (English).
