A disaster-ridden year has cost Australia’s largest insurer almost half its underlying profit after it paid out hundreds of millions of dollars more in claims than it bargained for.
Suncorp, which owns insurers AAMI, GIO and Shannons, paid $10.1 billion in claims in the year to June 30, exceeding its natural hazard allowance by more than $254 million.
Its bottom-line net profit nosedived 44 per cent to land at $1.03 billion, as executives announced a $250 million share buyback and a special 10 cent per cent dividend on Wednesday.
“We have simplified materially over the past decade, our supply chains and reinsurance arrangements are broad and deep,” Suncorp chief executive Steve Johnson said in a statement.
“Our low-risk investment portfolios are expected to benefit from the current higher yields.”
The total of all the premiums Suncorp charged in the year to June 30 was $15.42 billion, up 2.7 per cent.
More than 120,000 claims had arisen from 32 weather events across Australia and New Zealand, including 18 declared natural hazard events, the insurance giant reported.
They included a slew of thunderstorms and hailstorms in October and November that pummelled south-east Queensland, sending insurance payouts soaring almost half a billion dollars above Suncorp’s allowance for the six months to December 2025.
A battering that the region took from hailstones the size of small melons in November was likely one of the costliest the insurer had ever dealt with, it revealed in February.
The disasters had taken a massive three-quarter chunk out of Suncorp’s half-year profit compared to the previous year
The company took out a $2.4 billion reinsurance policy that kicked in at the end of June, at an eye-watering $40.2 million premium.
“Suncorp will have significant financial protection from a multi-year aggregate reinsurance cover,” Mr Johnson said.
Shareholders pocketed a 52-cent-per-share dividend after Suncorp wrapped up a $400 million share buyback for the 2025/26 financial year.
They will receive a special fully-franked 10 cents per share after the underwriter completes another $250 million buyback in the coming financial year.
Australian Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national newswire and has been delivering accurate, reliable and fast news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We keep Australia informed.
