Zurich UK delivers strong first half 2021 results

Zurich UK today reports its half-year results for period ended 30 June 2021.

Financial and operating highlights

• UK H1 business operating profit of £265 million which marks a strong start to 2021.
• Zurich UK’s customer satisfaction score has reached the highest ever level, accelerated by the ongoing digital transformation.
• A total of £930 million has been paid out in claims across all business areas in the UK.
• Strong trading performance with both Property and Casualty (P&C) and Life top-line both up by over 17% compared to H1 last year.

Tim Bailey, CEO of Zurich UK, said: “We continue to be there for our customers and I’m proud to see this reflected in our highest ever transactional net promoter score. We continue to grow top line and our business operating profits are at £265 million for the first half – a strong first half result. The team at Zurich has shown exceptional commitment and resilience. I’d like to thank my colleagues across the UK business for their ongoing contribution to our success.”

Property and Casualty

• Gross written premium (GWP) is up 17% to £1,570 million from £1,339 million in 2020
• Combined ratio (COR) has improved to 80.8% which is the strongest in five years
• Business operating profit (BOP) is £230 million compared to the £35 million loss reported in the same period in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19

Zurich’s Property and Casualty business achieved strong premium growth in H1 reaching £1,570 million which is up 17%. This top-line performance is significantly ahead of last year, with positive contributions from each business area. Our result benefits significantly from the hard market across Commercial. Our impressive Combined Ratio of 80.8% has benefited significantly from benign weather and low levels of large loss.

Commenting on the Property and Casualty result, Tim Bailey said: “Our P&C business has continued to perform incredibly well despite the ongoing challenges of COVID-19 with solid underlying improvements in profits and efficiency. We continue with our strategy to put customers at the centre of everything we do, rapidly progressing our digital journey. We have also benefitted significantly from benign weather in the first half.”

Life and Savings

• Life and savings protection annual premium equivalent (APE) of £81 million is up 17% from £69 million in H1 2020
• Life and savings protection new business value (NBV) improved significantly to £38 million from £17 million in H1 2020, reflecting improving margins across our Retail and Zurich Corporate Risk businesses
• Business operating profit of £34 million, up from -£29 million reported in H1 2020 which was due to the impact of COVID-19

Life and Savings showed positive year-on-year growth so far this year across key financial metrics, including a total new business APE of £81 million which is 17% up on the previous year. The Retail Protection business has continued to be impacted by market volatility, but has, delivered strong results and substantially expanded its distribution footprint. New Business Value has increased from last year, benefiting from a substantial new longevity reinsurance deal written in the first quarter, as well as improving margins across our Retail Protection and Zurich Corporate Risk businesses. Zurich continues to be there for our customers, paying out as we sadly see the human toll of the pandemic in our claims volumes in the first quarter of the year. The business proposition has also been enhanced with new features such as ZGP24, a virtual GP service for Group Protection scheme members.

Commenting on the Life and Savings results, Tim Bailey said: “We’ve seen a strong performance in our Life and Savings business, continuing to make good progress with an increase in APE of 17% compared to last year. The pandemic continues to encourage our customers to focus on health, and we hope to see this increased consumer demand for protection to continue.”