Unipol, 2022 profit rises to 866 million. The dividend is growing

MILAN – Unipol it closed the 2022 financial year with a net profit of 866 million euros, up by 8.8% compared to the 796 million of 2021, and with funding rising by 2.4% to 13.6 billion. Net of the extraordinary components, which include the costs for the solidarity fund for the early retirement of around 900 employees in 2022, the normalized profit jumps by 55%, from 514 to 797 million, reads a note. The results, explains a note, “in line with the objectives of the 2022-2024 strategic plan”.

Overall, based on the 2022 financial statements, Unipol will distribute total dividends of €265m, “exceeding the forecasts of the strategic plan” which included the payment of cumulative dividends of €750m for the three-year period 2022-2004. Unipol, reads the note on the results, also confirms “an income performance of the consolidated management for the current year in line with the objectives”. The dividend of €0.37 per share, up 23% on 2021, ensures a dividend yield of 7.5%.

In the non-life business, premium income grew by 4.5% to €8.3 billion, thanks to a positive performance by all divisions, with mobility up by 1.8% to €4.2 billion, welfare 11% to 1.7 billion and property by 5.4% to 2.4 billion.
Among the group companies, noteworthy were the performances of UniSalute, which achieved premiums of 574 million (+10.6%) and Arca Assicurazioni, whose premium income rose by 29.1%, “confirming the strategic nature of the relationship with partners banks”, Bper and Popolare di Sondrio, “through which the group’s products are distributed”.

The life business, on the other hand, saw premium income drop by 0.8% to 5.3 billion, “in an unfavorable market context, characterized by high levels of inflation, high volatility of the financial markets and the rise in interest rates” which prompted households to focus “more on sustaining growing current expenses by reducing the demand for life insurance policies”.
The non-life combined ratio, which records the profitability of technical management, improved from 92.5% in 2021 to 91%, contributing to the growth in non-life pre-tax profit from 821 to 846 million, a result which rises to 947 million in net of non-recurring items (722 million in 2021). In life, pre-tax profit rose from 213 to 273 million, with normalized profit rising from 206 to 293 million, thanks to “the improvement in both technical and financial margins favored by the context of current and prospective growth interest rates”.
The losses recorded by the real estate sector, the holding company and other businesses decreased from 83 to 10 million, which also benefited from the “significant recovery” of the hotel sector, which closed the year with a profit after two years penalized by the Covid pandemic.
Financial management achieved a return of 3.1% in 2022, while the solvency ratio fell from 214% at the end of 2021 to 201%, still remaining twice the regulatory minimums and having discounted the distribution of the dividend.