ICICI Lombard Q3 Results: Profit Falls 29%, Misses Estimates

ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co.’s third-quarter profit fell, missing estimates, owing to a rise in underwriting loss.

The private insurer’s profit fell 29% sequentially to Rs 317.5 crore in the three months through December, it said in an exchange filing. That compares with the Rs 402.5-crore consensus estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg.

The sequential decline was on account of higher underwriting loss incurred by the company in the current quarter, even as premiums earned net of reinsurance increased 2% to Rs 3,312 crore.

Year-on-year, profit rose 1%.

• Revenue rose 1% to Rs 3,854 crore.

• Ebitda slumped 40% to Rs 273 crore.

• Margins stood at 7.1% versus 12%.

• Operating loss from the retail health segment stood at Rs 20.3 crore against a loss of Rs 19.4 crore in the previous quarter, while the health group and corporate segment reported profit of Rs 57.1 crore, up 15%. Profit from motor insurance fell to Rs 28.9 crore from Rs 333.5 crore in Q2.

• The miscellaneous retail, group and corporate segments and crop insurance saw a rise in operating profits.

• Earnings per share stood Rs 6.47 apiece against Rs 9.11 in the previous quarter. That compares with the Bloomberg estimate of Rs 3.69 per share.

• Solvency ratio stood at 2.45 versus 2.49, higher than the minimum regulatory requirement of 1.50.

• Incurred claim ratio held nearly steady at 69.6% from 69.8%, while the net retention ratio rose to 76.4% from 67.7%.

• Combined ratio, calculated by adding incurred losses and expenses and dividing them by the premium earned, stood at 104.5% for the quarter ended December.

• Net premiums earned rose 31% to Rs 9,714 crore.

• Operating profit fell 33% to Rs 784 crore.

• After-tax profit dropped 15% to Rs 959 crore.

• Return on average equity stood at 15.1% as against 22.4%.

• Combined ratio was 111% versus 99.1%.