Shares in a Sydney-based global insurance company have sunk to a two-month low after impacts from the war with Iran and issues with its US portfolio dented its profitability.
QBE shares had fallen 3.9 per cent to $22.555 in early trading on Friday, after the insurer posted a first half profit of $US1.03 billion, up one per cent from a year ago.
Its revenue rose 10 per cent to $11.9 billion as gross written premiums grew six per cent to $US15.1 billion.
Barrenjoey analysts said the headline earnings beat expectations, but a measure of profitability known as a core operating ratio came in below forecasts at 92.8 per cent, the same as a year ago.
The metric measures whether an insurer’s profitability from day-to-day operations, with a figure below 100 indicating it is operating in the green.
QBE’s US crop insurance and commercial business portfolio had performed well, but the company had had some challenges with claims inflation in its its accident and health business, chief executive Andrew Horton said on an earnings call.
Its speciality transaction liability product, which covers risks in business mergers and acquisitions, had also seen many more claims in the first half, Mr Horton said.
QBE has paid out $75 million of catastrophe claims related to the Middle East conflict, although it said the overall impact from the war was expected to be more balanced.
The conflict has also spurred significant demand for QBE’s marine war insurance product, Mr Horton said.
QBE has also seen strong demand for its new cybersecurity insurance product, which launched in July 2024.
QBE is likely to end the year with $600 million in cyber premiums, making it still a relatively small part of QBE’s portfolio.
“Our aim is to continue to cover our clients and obviously be as vigilant as possible,” Mr Horton said.
“We believe the rollout of AI may make clients both respond to the vulnerabilities more quickly and also the bad actors attack the vulnerabilities more quickly,” he added.
“The jury’s out on how that works.”
RBC Capital Markets analyst Andrei Stadnik said it was a solid result for the company.
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