Pre-tax profit dropped by 16% to EUR 35.6m, the Ljubljana-based core company Zavarovalnica Triglav said as it released the group's unaudited report on Friday.
The group attributes the result to major catastrophe (CAT) events in the second quarter of 2018 and a 30% drop in return on financial investments.
Floods, hail, storms and spring frost in Slovenia and Macedonia caused over EUR 21m in claims, which resulted in 9% higher gross claims paid in non-life insurance compared to 2017.
Gross claims paid rose by 4% to EUR 326.8m in the January-to-June period, but despite the higher claims ratio, the group's combined ratio remained favourable at 95.2%.
Premium growth was recorded in all of Triglav's markets, with the average growth on the Slovenian market at 4% and on foreign markets at 7%.
In terms of individual insurance segments, a 6% premium rise was recorded in non-life insurance, a 0.3% rise in life insurance and an 8% rise in health insurance.
The core company collected EUR 365.7m in gross premiums in the first six months, up 4% from the same period last year, with its pre-tax profit down by 21% to EUR 32.1m and net profit by 23% to EUR 27.2m.
Given the developments in its markets in the first half of the year, Zavarovalnica Triglav board chairman Andrej Slapar said that "in terms of the company's annual and strategic objectives, we are satisfied with the achieved" results.
Given the trends, Triglav expects to meet its plan for 2018; last December the insurer said its annual pre-tax profit could range between 80 and 90 million euro.
The core company's market share dropped from 29.9% at the end of June 2017 to 29.2% at the end of June this year, but Triglav nevertheless remained the market leader.
The group had a workforce of 5,158 at the end of June, of whom 2,283 worked for the core company.
