Generali reports profit of 2.5 billion. Donnet: ‘We will safeguard the integrity of the group’

Generali remains focused on its results, which exceeded market expectations in the first half of the year, with profits rising to 2.54 billion. Everything else – and in particular the public offer launched by Intesa Sanpaolo for MPS, which will alter the shareholding structure of Generali – remains on the sidelines, but only insofar as it does not undermine the insurance group’s autonomy. On this point, Generali’s CEO Philippe Donnet has been clear and, speaking at the half-yearly results presentation, sent a clear message to the players involved in the ongoing banking shake-up: ‘We will safeguard the integrity and independence of the Generali Group’.

“Generali,” Donnet reiterates several times, “is an independent, international organisation – an Italian success story.” The aim is to “continue to successfully pursue” the company’s mission, “resolutely safeguarding the integrity of the group”. To this end, the insurance group “will continue to maintain a consistent approach, always basing its decisions on the exclusive interests of its stakeholders and maximising value for its shareholders”. The aim of the ‘Lion of Trieste’, the CEO continues, “is to continue to successfully pursue this mission, resolutely safeguarding the Group’s integrity”. Hence the appeal to all those involved: “In order to safeguard the Group’s independence and integrity, all implications for our business and for the competitive environment in which we operate must be assessed with the utmost attention and care, including by all the relevant Italian and European authorities.”

Having said that, Generali’s CEO reflects on the path the insurance group has taken so far: “The entire management team is focused on implementing our Strategic Plan, which creates value for all stakeholders,” he emphasises, before detailing the “excellent” results recorded by Generali in the first half of this year. Generali closed the first six months of the year with an adjusted net profit up 13.7 per cent to over 2.5 billion euros, which is almost in line with the net profit, which rose by 17.9 per cent. This figure exceeds market consensus, which had forecast adjusted net profit for the six-month period at around €2.410 billion. Gross premiums rose by 5.8% to 53.42 billion, whilst the combined ratio – which measures the ratio of claims, expenses and premiums – rose from 91% to 95%. Assets under management grew by 4.9% to over 944 billion, whilst the solvency ratio fell from 219 to 216 per cent. In particular, the growth in gross premiums was driven by both the Non-Life segment (+6.3%) and the Life segment (+5.5%). Net Life premium income stood at over 8.3 billion, ‘a record level for a first half-year’. Operating profit thus rose to 4.505 billion (+11.2 per cent). The combined ratio stood at 91.5 per cent (+0.5 percentage points), reflecting the impact of natural and catastrophic events (+1.9 points).

“These excellent results put the 2026 targets on a secure footing,” said Donnet, emphasising that this foundation puts the group “on the right track to meet the end-2027 targets set out in the business plan.” It is precisely the group’s financial strength that has led to the announcement of a 500 million buyback programme, which will commence on 10 August and be completed by the second half of the year.

Finally, there are massive investments in the field of artificial intelligence in the pipeline: “When we drew up our Strategic Plan, we set a target for investment in technology – and clearly, at the moment, a large part of that technology relates to artificial intelligence – of €1.2–1.3 billion,” explained Generali’s general manager, Marco Sesana. “Clearly, it’s not all about AI – partly because the field is still relatively new – but I can confirm that a large proportion of the investment will be in artificial intelligence, and we’re making moves across the entire value chain.”