Australia’s largest insurer by market value, QBE Insurance (QBE.AX), reported a stronger-than-expected interim profit for the first half of 2025, driven by solid premium growth and lower catastrophe claims. The company posted an adjusted net profit after tax of $997 million for the six months ended June 30, up from $777 million a year earlier and ahead of market estimates of $839.4 million.Australia’s largest insurer by market value, QBE Insurance (QBE.AX), reported a stronger-than-expected interim profit for the first half of 2025, driven by solid premium growth and lower catastrophe claims. The company posted an adjusted net profit after tax of $997 million for the six months ended June 30, up from $777 million a year earlier and ahead of market estimates of $839.4 million.
QBE’s gross written premiums increased by 5.9 percent to $13.82 billion during the period, supported by strong performance in its international and North American operations. The combined operating ratio, a key measure of underwriting profitability, improved to 92.8 percent from 93.8 percent in the previous year, indicating that the insurer earned more in premiums than it paid out in claims, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
Catastrophe-related claims totaled $479 million, primarily due to wildfires in California and severe storms and flooding across North America and Australia. This amount was lower than the $527 million recorded in the same period last year, helping to reduce the net claims ratio to 62.8 percent from 64.2 percent.
Despite these positive results, investors remained cautious about the sustainability of certain profit drivers, such as lower claims and the impact of prior-year reserve releases. This cautious sentiment was reflected in QBE’s share price, which closed 8.8 percent lower at A$21.39, marking its lowest level since early May.
Nathan Zaia, senior equity analyst at Morningstar, noted the difficulty in predicting claims fluctuations and highlighted that the prior-year reserve releases that benefited the first half might not be repeated in the second half.
QBE also declared an interim dividend of 31 Australian cents per share, up from 24 cents in the previous year, reflecting the company’s confidence in its ongoing financial strength.
