6th Nov 2018 08:32
LONDON (Alliance News) - Direct Line Insurance Group PLC said Tuesday its third-quarter performance was "robust" in a "competitive market" as its total gross written premiums decreased.
For the three months to the end of September, the FTSE 100-listed insurance company's total gross written premiums declined 5.8% year-on-year to GBP854.5 million from GBP907.2 million.
However, Direct Line - which owns Churchill Insurance and Green Flag among others - said the total gross written premiums from its own brands increased slightly to GBP610.4 million from GBP606.6 million.
The insurer's in-force policies decreased 3.8% in the third quarter to 15,183 from 15,775. Direct Line's own brands had saw a 3.5% increase in-force policies to 7,078 from 6,838.
"The group's performance during the quarter was robust in a competitive market. We continued to grow our direct own brands in-force policies while maintaining discipline on loss ratios," said Paul Geddes, chief executive officer.
Geddes continued: "We are delivering our key strategic priorities, including strong growth in our direct Rescue and Commercial businesses, Green Flag and Direct Line for Business, and we are on track to begin rolling out our new personal lines systems in 2019."
The insurer's gross written premiums in its Motor division decreased 1.2% to GBP456.4 million from GBP462.0 million.
Gross written premiums in its Home division - from its own brands - increased slightly to GBP115.3 million from GBP114.3 million.
Its Home partnership gross written premiums saw a dramatic decrease to GBP51.4 million from GBP102.7 million the year before. The decrease is due to Direct Line exiting the partnerships with Nationwide and J Sainsbury PLC.
The insurer's Rescue & Other Personal Items gross written premiums increased 3.1% to GBP113.4 million from GBP110.0 million and its Commercial gross written premiums were broadly flat at GBP118.0 million.
Direct Line's in-force policies in its Motor division grew by 1.9% in the quarter - with a 3.0% increase in its own brands - driven by strong retention levels.
Direct Line said premiums in the division were 1.2% lower, as a result of lower average premiums on a change in its price comparison website. Direct Line said underlying claims inflation in the quarter was at the upper end of its long term expectation of 3% to 5%.
The insurer's Home premiums increased by 0.9% with claims inflation expected to remain within the company's long term expectation of 3% to 5%.
Claims inflation is a key measure for non-life insurers. It is used to measure reserving, pricing, planning and capital modelling.
Geddes added: "Overall, we are making good progress on our strategic priorities and are on course to meet our 2018 and medium-term financial targets."
For the nine months to September 30, Direct Line's total gross written premiums decreased 5.4% to GBP2.46 billion from GBP2.60 billion in the same period a year ago.
Shares in Direct Line were down 0.5% Tuesday at 316.40 pence each.
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