Groupama reports strong 2007 growth in spite of summer floods

French insurer, Groupama, has announced 3.6% growth in its personal lines business to £221.7 million in its 2007 results, boosted by continuing growth in the company’s home and car insurance portfolios.

However, profits for the year were £23.1 million, a decline of more than £10 million compared to 2007, it is believed the summer floods and storms of last year are responsible for the fall in profits.

Groupama reported a combined ratio of 101.8% which would have been 98.5% if the storm and flood losses totalling £18.4 million were not included.

Revenues for 2007 were flat at £408.7 million with the company saying it was a reflection of disciplined underwriting in the personal and commercial lines portfolios, the impact of ongoing consolidation and continuing portfolio adjustment in the company’s healthcare subsidiary, Groupama Healthcare.

Groupama’s chief executive, Francois-Xavier Boisseau, said Groupama Insurance has again delivered a strong bottom line performance with an excellent return on capital employed and a valuable contribution to the Group.

This is against the backdrop of extremely competitive market conditions, continuing consolidation among the UK’s insurance intermediaries and some of the worst flooding for many years, added Francois-Xavier Boisseau.

Our concentration will always remain on the bottom line and we are content to sacrifice volume if we cannot achieve acceptable levels of return, concluded Francois-Xavier Boisseau.

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