Munich Re to pay stable dividend of €8.60 per share despite high hurricane losses – Slight improvement in reinsurance prices

Munich Re achieved a result of €392m in 2017 – thus attaining the adjusted “small profit” forecast it had projected for the year in the wake of the high losses resulting from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. According to provisional calculations, in the fourth quarter of 2017 it posted a profit of €538m (previous year: €486m). Subject to approval by the Supervisory Board and Annual General Meeting, Munich Re will pay a dividend of €8.60 per share, as in the previous year.

CFO Jörg Schneider said: “Our dividend is reliable. Thanks to our capital strength, we were able to well withstand the high losses from natural catastrophes. In 2018, we will be pressing ahead with the digital transformation of Munich Re, and also seizing opportunities for profitable growth in traditional business. Reinsurance prices improved slightly in large sections of the market at the January renewals – a trend likely to strengthen in coming renewal rounds.”

The reinsurance field of business contributed €120m (2,540m) to the consolidated result in 2017. The operating result  fell from €2,919m to €73m. Gross premiums written increased slightly to €31,569m (31,463m).

Life and health reinsurance contributed €596m (515m) to the consolidated result. The technical result, including the result from business that is not recognised in the technical result owing to insufficient risk transfer, was €428m (561m). Thanks to a strong technical result in the fourth quarter, life and health reinsurance fell only slightly short of its target of €450m for 2017 as a whole – despite the result being impacted by the recapture of loss-making portfolios in the USA in the second and third quarters.

Due to high natural catastrophe losses, the result in property-casualty reinsurance fell to –€476m (2,025m). For the same reason, the combined ratio for 2017 amounted to 114.1% (95.7%) of net earned premiums, and totalled 103.9% (101.9%) for the fourth quarter. Munich Re was able to release loss reserves (adjusted for commissions) of approximately €870m for the full year; the figure for the fourth quarter was around €130m. This corresponds to 5.2 percentage points of the combined ratio for the full year, and 3.1 percentage points for the fourth quarter. Munich Re still aims to set the amount of provisions for newly emerging claims at the top end of the estimation range, so that profits from the release of a portion of these reserves are possible at a later stage.

Total major-loss expenditure for 2017 amounted to €4,314m (1,524m), of which €493m (622m) was attributable to the fourth quarter. The major-loss burden amounted to 25.8% (9.1%) of net earned premiums, and was thus well above the average expected figure of 12% for the full year; it totalled exactly 12% in the fourth quarter. Natural catastrophe losses amounted to €3,678m (929m) for the full year, while the figure for the fourth quarter was €492m (460m). Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria – with a total loss of €2.7bn – were the most expensive loss events of the year. Man-made major losses were slightly above the level of the previous year, and totalled €636m (613m) – which is equivalent to 3.8% (3.6%) of net earned premiums. In the fourth quarter, expenditure for new major losses and the release of provisions for major losses in prior years balanced each other out.

In 2017, the ERGO field of business reported a profit of €273m (41m). ERGO thus exceeded the profit guidance raised in August to a range of €200–250m. A significantly improved technical result in Germany and abroad and lower expenditure contributed to this gratifying result. ERGO achieved a profit of €48m (90m) in the fourth quarter, which was marked in particular by a good technical result for ERGO Life and Health Germany. This more than compensated for small losses in international and German property-casualty business caused by one-off effects in the fourth quarter.

Gross premiums written increased slightly to €17.5bn (17.4bn). The combined ratio for German property-casualty insurance was 97.5% (97.0%) for the full year, and amounted to 100.3% (100.0%) in the fourth quarter. The combined ratio for the ERGO International segment improved to 95.3% (98.0%) for the full year, mainly on account of good developments in Poland, and 94.7% (100.2%) for the fourth quarter.

The ERGO Strategy Programme reached important milestones in 2017: the online insurer “nexible” entered the renewal season in good time with a motor insurance product; new and agile IT units have started up operations; and new retirement provision products were brought to market.

Prices for the reinsurance treaties increased in the renewals as at 1 January 2018, particularly in the markets most affected by natural catastrophes. Other markets and branches were also freed from the pricing pressures of previous years, and price development was stable or even slightly positive. Despite the high losses from natural catastrophes in 2017, the availability of reinsurance capital remained high during the January renewals, so price increases were moderate overall, due also to the slight rise in market interest rates.

As at 1 January 2018, around half of Munich Re’s non-life reinsurance business was up for renewal, representing premium volume of €8.3bn. Of this, 14% (around €1.2bn) was not renewed. By contrast, Munich Re wrote new business with a volume of approximately €2.3bn. The volume of business written at 1 January thus increased by 19% to around €9.9bn, due partly to new large-volume treaties in the USA and Australia. Prices increased by around 0.8%; they had fallen by 0.5% on average in all 2017 renewal rounds.

Munich Re expects market conditions to continue to improve in the remaining renewal rounds in 2018, although claims experience in the individual market segments will play a major role. The renewal date of 1 April is mainly for reinsurance treaties in Japan, whereas 1 July is the renewal date for the USA, Australia and Latin America.

Munich Re is one of the world’s leading providers of reinsurance, primary insurance and insurance-related risk solutions. The group consists of the reinsurance and ERGO business segments, as well as the capital investment company MEAG. Munich Re is globally active and operates in all lines of the insurance business. Since it was founded in 1880, Munich Re has been known for its unrivalled risk-related expertise and its sound financial position. It offers customers financial protection when faced with exceptional levels of damage – from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake to the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season and the California wildfires in 2018. Munich Re possesses outstanding innovative strength, which enables it to also provide coverage for extraordinary risks such as rocket launches, renewable energies, cyberattacks, or pandemics. The company is playing a key role in driving forward the digital transformation of the insurance industry, and in doing so has further expanded its ability to assess risks and the range of services that it offers. Its tailor-made solutions and close proximity to its customers make Munich Re one of the world’s most sought-after risk partners for businesses, institutions, and private individuals.

Disclaimer
This media information contains forward-looking statements that are based on current assumptions and forecasts of the management of Munich Re. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the forward-looking statements given here and the actual development, in particular the results, financial situation and performance of Munich Re. The Company assumes no liability to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.