ICICI Lombard Q2 Results: Profit Rises, Beats Estimates

ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co.’s second-quarter profit surged, beating analyst estimates.

The general insurer’s profit rose 32% year-on-year to Rs 591 crore in the quarter ended September, it said in an exchange filing. That compares with the Rs 337-crore consensus estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg.

After-tax profits include reversal of tax provision of Rs 128 crore. Excluding that, the company said that the after-tax profits were up 3.4% over the September quarter last year.

Net premiums earned for the quarter were up 18% over a year earlier at Rs 3,837 crore.

ICICI Lombard Q2 FY23 Highlights (YoY)

• Revenue rose 18% to Rs 4,499 crore, against the estimated Rs 4,522 crore.

• Ebitda was up 12% at Rs 510 crore.

• Operating profit in the fire segment grew 1.3 times, while profits from the motor segment were up 4% year-on-year. Losses in the health retail segment grew 1.2 times while profits from group and corporate segment slumped.

• Crop insurance reported profits against losses a year ago.

• Margin stood at 11.34% versus 12%.

• Solvency ratio stood at 2.47 versus 2.61, as of June. It was 2.49 in the previous year and is higher than the minimum regulatory requirement of 1.50.

• Combined ratio, calculated by adding incurred losses and expenses and dividing them by the premium earned, stood at 105.1% against 105.3%.

• Claim ratio was higher at 72.8% versus 69.8% last year.

Half-Yearly Highlights (YoY)

• The after-tax profit jumped 47% to Rs 940 crore. Excluding the tax reversal, the growth was 27%.

• Ebidta margin was at 18.4% from 13.4% while the revenue was up 11%.

• Incurred claims ratio stood at 72.5% against 79.5%.

• Combined ratio stood at 104.6%, compared with 114.3% over the same period a year ago. The base included the impact of floods and cyclones, and Covid-19 claims on the health book of the company.

• Return on average equity was 19.9% versus 15.2%. Excluding the reversal of tax provision, return on average equity for the first six months of the current year stood at 17.3%.

The insurer has declared an interim dividend of Rs 4.50 per share for the first half of the ongoing fiscal.