Ageas UK has reported non-life income of £1.74bn for 2012, up from £1.72bn in 2011 as its combined operating ratio remained stable at 99.8% (2011: 99.9%).
The provider listed that gross written premiums for Ageas Insurance increased by 2.9% in the period to £1.1bn from £1.07bn the year before.
Income in motor grew by 12.1% to £617.6m while the household line saw a decline of 8.1% to £275.5m which the insurer described as being due to "deliberate pricing action taken to improve profit performance".
Meanwhile commercial lines income edged down to £118.4m (2011: £120.6m).
The overall net profit for Ageas Insurance was up 13.6% to a record £56.3m (2011: £49.5m)
The partnership with Tesco Underwriting also came in lower at £589.7m for GWP (2011: £655.3m) although net profit rose considerably to £10.8m from £3m in 2011.
Protection
Ageas Protect continued to grow over the year, with total Gross Written Premium inflow increasing by 55.7% to £69.4m (2011 £44.6m) and New Annual Premiums increasing by 16.6% to £36.0m (2011 £30.9m).
The insurer said this reflects a successful roll out of the protection proposition to an increasing number of IFAs, as well as its G-Day promise linked to the EU Gender Directive.
The business now protects over 265,000 lives, an increase of 75,000 over the same period last year.
Retail decline
However, Ageas Retail saw net profit decline to £22.7m (2011: £29.4m). The section incorporating the likes of RIAS, Kwik Fit Financial Services, Ageas Insurance Solutions and Castle Cover saw income drop 4.5% to £203.9m.
For the full range of "other insurance activities" net profit halved to £12.7m (2011: £25.9m) as the provider noted that last year's result included an incentive payment of £7.5m from a partner.
Groupama acquisition costs
Groupama Insurances, which was purchased last year, was listed as a one-off exception item. Ageas revealed that costs relating to the transaction and subsequent reorganisation came in at £14.2m.
Inclusion of Groupama's non-life results as of 14 November meant the business had contributed £51.3m in GWP and £3.1m in net profit to the overall results. The first full quarter of results from Groupama Insurances are to be included in the next quarterly update.
Across the group, Ageas UK delivered net profit for the 12 month period of £82.9m before exceptional items, up 11% from 2011, with income of £2.01bn.
Andy Watson, chief executive of Ageas UK commented: "It's been another good year for Ageas UK, delivering our highest ever profit and reaching the £2bn income milestone.
"Our continued strategy of offering a wider range of products through our brokers, partners, Independent Financial Advisers and clients continues to pay off and the recent Groupama Insurances acquisition builds on that strength."
He concluded: "It is an excellent platform as we take the business forward and a lot of credit must go to my predecessor Barry Smith for that.
"While the market is not without its challenges our breadth of distribution, strong partnerships and reputation for service excellence gives us confidence that we will continue to build momentum during 2013."
