THE National Reinsurance Corp. of the Philippines (NatRe) reported a first-half net profit of P414 million on the back of a 115-percent spike in net underwriting income amounting to P303.5 million.

"Higher net underwriting income was mainly driven by the growth of the company's Life business with lower related claims and commission costs [relative to premium] compared to 2023," the listed company said in its quarterly report posted on Monday.

NatRe's reinsurance premium income expanded by 35 percent to P1.46 billion, resulting in a claims ratio of 67 percent for both 2024 and 2023. Claims ratio for its Life business, meanwhile, dropped to 50 percent from 60 percent due to lower Covid-19-related losses.

The company's first-half net of returns for its reinsurance premiums totaled P3.2 billion, a 39-percent jump from P2.3 billion recorded a year earlier. The result is a reinsurance premium income of P2.2 billion, or 35-percent increase from P1.6 billion in the first half of 2023.

"This resulted mainly from new business, net of premiums lost from the nonrenewal of certain treaties under the nonlife foreign business and higher premium income generated from the life business," NatRe's report explained.

It has P5.39-billion reinsurance balances receivable as of June 30, a 14-percent rise from P4.72 billion recorded a year prior, owing to the accrual of reinsurance premiums, net of commission from nonlife foreign business, which was partially negated by collections during the period.

Reinsurance balances payable, meanwhile, amounted to P2.22 billion, a 6-percent dip due to the settlement of retroceded premiums.

NatRe has P710.5 million held-for-trading, a 33-percent increase due to new forward assets, net of maturities, while as of end June, the company has available-for-sale (AFS) financial assets amounting to P4.9 billion, a 7-percent decrease from P5.3 billion AFS in 2023, due to net disposals of fixed income and equity securities.

The company's held-to-maturity securities saw a 6-percent decline to P3.7 billion, mainly from the net maturities of corporate bonds.

NatRe's earnings per share soared by 167 percent from P0.073 to P0.195, retention ratio improved 1 percent to 72 percent, while combined ratio from the sum of claims, commission and expense ratios declined 7 percent from 101 percent to 94 percent due to the commission ratio slipping from 27 percent to 20 percent.

Shares of NatRe were last traded on Thursday at P0.465 apiece.