By Ed Frankl

Assicurazioni Generali SpA said it beat expectations for its first half despite a decline in profit as impairments from its Russian business took their toll.

Italy's largest insurer reported on Tuesday net profit for the first six months of the year of 1.40 billion euros ($1.44 billion) compared with EUR1.54 billion for the same period of the previous year.

The company said its impairment from Russian investments totaled EUR138 million in the half, and that without the net result would have ticked up above last year's.

Generali said in March that it would pull out of Russia after the country's invasion of Ukraine.

Gross written premiums grew 2.4% to EUR41.88 billion in the year to June 30, driven by a strong rise in property & casualty premiums, led by its non-motor line.

Premiums at its life segment dropped slightly by 0.5%.

However, the result beat expectations of net profit at EUR1.33 billion and gross written premiums of EUR41.12 billion.

Generali's solvency ratio, a measure of capital strength, was 233%, down from 227% at the end of 2021.

Generali said it would launch a EUR500 million share buyback, worth around 3% of its share capital, on Aug. 3, to last until Oct. 29, 2023.

Write to Ed Frankl at edward.frankl@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 02, 2022 02:10 ET (06:10 GMT)

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