A relatively benign year for weather has helped to boost Suncorp New Zealand’s bottom line.
The insurer announced net profit after tax of $261 million for the full year ended June 30, up 76% on the prior corresponding period.
Chief executive Paul Smeaton said the strong result was partly driven by an unusually low claims year for natural hazard events.
“This is in stark contrast to the severe weather events of 2017 and 2018 which cost the insurance industry $469 million in claims, according to statistics from the Insurance Council of New Zealand,” he said.
“New Zealand is rated second in the world in terms of our exposure to national catastrophe, and we only need to look to the 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes and 2016 Kaikoura earthquake for a reminder of just how exposed we are.”
Smeaton said he expected New Zealand’s strong performance to continue into next year.
“However, our expectation is that growth will return to lower single digit-levels, and claims will return to more normalised levels following very favourable weather conditions in FY19.”
The general insurance business, which includes Vero Insurance and AA Insurance (a joint venture with the New Zealand Automobile Association), delivered profit after tax of $217 million, up 99% on the prior corresponding period.
Suncorp said that was driven by disciplined portfolio management delivering strong top-line growth and favourable working claims experience, and the absence of any major natural hazard events.
Smeaton said the financial year had seen Suncorp New Zealand join the Climate Leaders Coalition and commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to targets in line with New Zealand’s proposed Zero Carbon Bill.
“Since we started measuring our emissions in 2017-18, we have reduced our Scope One and Scope Two emissions by 16% and are on track to meet our new target for our corporate operations of a 51% reduction in these emissions by 2030, which is in line with the Paris Agreement.
“In addition to this we continue to explore opportunities to build natural hazard resilience and financial resilience for
New Zealanders.”
Smeaton said the next financial year would see Suncorp New Zealand continue to focus on building a resilient business to meet a greater number of customer needs, with increased investment in digitising the business, improved customer communications, and improved claims experience.
