MILAN (Reuters) -Generali expects to exceed targets set under its 2027 plan after achieving double‑digit profit growth for the first nine months, the finance chief of Italy’s biggest insurer said on Thursday.
In its first results since investors critical of CEO Philippe Donnet increased their influence at Generali, operating profit rose 10.1% to 5.9 billion euros ($6.88 billion), driven by its non‑life business and lower natural‑catastrophe claims.
Generali’s adjusted net profit rose 14% to 3.3 billion euros. Both results were broadly in line with an analyst consensus forecast provided by the insurer.
Natural catastrophe claims totalled 573 million euros, just over half of the full year budget for them, allowing Generali to strengthen its balance sheet, and remained “well below” in mid-November, Chief Financial Officer Cristiano Borean said.
“This gives us even more confidence that we will be able to exceed our targets,” he told a post-results briefing.
Under its 2027 plan, Generali has committed itself to average earnings per share growth of 8% to 10%, more than 7 billion euros in cumulative dividends and at least 1.5 billion euros of share buybacks.
Italy’s state-backed Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, with the backing of Italian tycoon Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone and Delfin, the holding company of late billionaire Leonardo del Vecchio, gained control of Mediobanca, Generali’s largest investor, in September.
Caltagirone and Delfin are both major Generali investors who tried to oust Donnet, backed by Mediobanca, in 2022. At the time they blamed him for not growing Generali enough, but have not indicated their plans since MPS became its main investor.
On Wednesday, Generali’s board named insurance head Giulio Terzariol as deputy CEO, who sources said was seen as internal successor should the two investors push for Donnet’s departure.
Generali shares were up 1.7% at 1155 GMT, performing better than European peers. JP Morgan analysts cited a solid set of results, allowing Generali to build up reserves.
The undiscounted combined ratio in Generali’s non-life segment, a measure of underwriting performance in which a level below 100 indicates a profit, improved to 94.2% at September 30, from 96.3% a year earlier.
($1 = 0.8575 euros)
(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro, editing by Valentina Za, Elaine Hardcastle and Alexander Smith)
