Italian Insurer Generali Benefited From Fewer Natural Catastrophe Claims — Update

By Elena Vardon

Assicurazioni Generali reported slightly better-than-expected results for the first nine months of 2025 as lower natural catastrophe claims helped the performance of its property-and-casualty business.

The Italian insurer said Thursday that its net profit for the period rose 8.5% to 3.215 billion euros ($3.73 billion). Operating profit--a metric closely watched by analysts and investors--increased 10% to 5.94 billion euros on gross written premiums that were 3.7% ahead at 73.08 billion euros and a higher contribution from investments, it said.

The net and operating profit results were slightly ahead of estimates taken from a company-compiled consensus, while premiums beat expectations more broadly.

Lighter natural-catastrophe claims in its property-and-casualty segment in the period contributed to a lower loss ratio and allowed the insurer to improve its combined operating ratio--a measure of underwriting performance, which indicates a profit if the level is below 100%--to 92.3%, it said.

"After two years of significant [natural catastrophe] experience, 2025 was benign so far," finance chief Cristiano Borean said. Claims in the first nine months of the year were 573 million euros, which is slightly more than half its annual budget linked to natural catastrophes, he added.

Generali decided to take advantage of this positive development to strengthen its balance sheet to buffer for future extreme events. This increases management's confidence in exceeding the targets of its three-year plan, Borean said.

"We had a benign October and a benign first half of November, so we are still quite well below budget," he noted.

Shares traded 1.6% higher in early afternoon exchanges in Milan after what analysts described as a solid set of results and appreciated the prudent approach to build up reserve cushions.

"Non-life investment income is strong, catastrophe losses are low, and the improvement in the attritional loss ratio already seen year-to-date has been sustained. We expect the market to be relatively sanguine about these trends," Jefferies analysts wrote in a note to clients.

Generali--which generates most of its profit from Italy, France, Germany, and Central and Eastern Europe--also posted growth in its life-insurance division, its largest segment. This was driven by higher volumes and better profitability, with a 55% on-year increase in its net inflows to 10.37 billion euros.

Operating profit in its wealth asset management division--where Generali has been bolstering its operations--edged up as the consolidation of Conning Holdings, the Connecticut-based group it bought last year, made up for a lower result at its private bank Banca Generali.

The group is in the process of negotiating an asset-management joint venture with Natixis, of French bank Groupe BPCE, after signing a partnership deal in January in view of creating a European asset management giant with 1.9 trillion euros in client assets.

While talks have been progressing and are expected to run until the end of the year, the parties agreed to waive the deal's breakup fee in September, weakening the prospects it will go through due to opposition from two large Generali shareholders and reluctance from the Italian government. An update is expected by the end of December.

Its solvency II ratio--a measure of capital strength--stood at 214% at the end of the period, up from 210% nine months prior.

Write to Elena Vardon at elena.vardon@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 13, 2025 07:18 ET (12:18 GMT)