Universalna Insurance’s GPW soar 77% yoy in 1H08

Universalna Insurance Company (SKUN: BUY) reported yesterday its 1H08 financial results.

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Financial results, USD mln  1H07   1H08   Chg, yoy
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Gross premiums written      21.7   38.4      77.0%
Claims paid                          6.8   12.0      76.5%
Reserves                             13.9   29.0     108.6%
Total assets                         49.9   99.7      99.4%
Capital                                29.4   56.5      92.2%

Revenues                            15.5   23.0      48.3%

Source: Interfax

The main drivers of Universalna’s GPW growth were CASCO (+2x yoy to USD 15.8 mln); OMTPL (+ 2.2x yoy to USD 4.8 mln); property insurance (+97.5% to USD 7.9 mln). Alexander Viktorov: Based on 1H08 results we feel comfortable with our full-year GPW growth estimates of 50% yoy to USD 75.7 mln. We think that by yearend the company should complete consolidation of its recent acquisitions: local insurer Oradon (expected GPW in 2008 is USD ~10 mln) and Moldavian Ascargo (USD ~2 mln). We also expect Universalna to finalize the acquisition of an undisclosed Belarusian insurer with estimated GPW at USD ~40 mln in 2008. As a result, we estimate the company’s aggregated gross premiums to reach around USD 128 mln, or 154% yoy increase.