Generali: reports 57% drop in net profit on write-downs

(CercleFinance.com) - Generali on Thursday reported a 57% drop in second-quarter net profit to 774 million euros as the Italian insurer booked 226 million euros in impairments on its investments in the financial markets.


The Milan-based company said it also set aside 183 million euros for the arbitration settlement relating to the sale of Swiss private bank BSI and its contribution of 1 billion dollars for the extraordinary international fund for the pandemic.

Excluding the one-off expense of the extraordinary fund for Covid-19, adjusted net profit stood at 1.03 billion euros, down 21.2% year-on-year.

The Italian insurer - which is Europe's third largest by premiums - said that gross premiums rose by 1% to 36.5 billion euros thanks to the positive performance of its life business.

Looking ahead, Generali said it expects its operating result to remain "resilient" in 2020, even though "probably lower than in 2019".

The Milan-listed shares were down almost 4% after these announcements.

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