QBE Insurance Group: A solid enough AGM update
About the author:
- Author name:
- By Richard Coles
- Job title:
- Senior Analyst
- Date posted:
- 06 May 2021, 9:00 AM
- Sectors Covered:
- Insurance, Diversified Financials
- QBE Insurance Group (ASX:QBE) has provided an update on its FY21 performance as part of its AGM commentary.
- The two main points in our view, were; QBE delivering 13% 1Q21 GWP growth on pcp and the 1Q21 combined operating ratio being in-line with expectations (despite some known catastrophe events in 1Q21).
- We lift our QBE FY21F/FY22F EPS by 17% and 4% respectively. Our earnings changes reflect the benefits of a +A$70m MTM gain in 1Q21 and a lift to our running yield assumptions for fixed income securities. Our QBE PT rises (login to view).
- With strong rate increases still flowing through QBE’s insurance book and further cost-out benefits to come, we expect QBE’s earnings profile to improve strongly over the next few years. We see QBE as relatively inexpensive versus the market, trading on 16x FY21F PE (ASX 200 = ~19x). ADD.
What happened
QBE has provided an update on its FY21 performance as part of its AGM commentary. The key points were
- QBE is still seeing strong top line rate increases of ~9% on pcp in 1Q21, while 1Q21 top line growth was +13% on pcp (on a constant currency basis)
- Despite some large first quarter events, QBE’s combined operating ratio (COR) was inline with management expectations
- The decision to adopt a slightly shorter asset duration versus the length of QBEs liabilities has seen a +A$70m 1Q21 mark-to-market (MTM) gain
- The average yield QBE is getting on its bonds has increased from 40bps to 50bps over the last quarter
- QBEs total capital ratio of 1.73x is per the mid-point of managements target range (1.60x-1.80x)
Our thoughts
There were two key positives in the QBE AGM commentary, in our view.
Firstly, the 13% 1Q21 top line growth on pcp shows recent rate increases are flowing through to GWP, albeit noting current group rate increase levels (~+10% on pcp in 1Q21) were down on the 4Q20 performance (~+12.5% on pcp). While QBE did observe that 1Q21 earned premium growth was lower than GWP growth (+6% vs ~+13% on pcp, on a CC basis), management believes earned premium growth will increase over the rest of 2021 in-line with premium earnings patterns.
Secondly, the 1Q21 COR coming in-line with expectations was a better outcome than we expected given numerous known weather events in 1Q21, e.g. NSW and QLD storms, and the Texas winter freeze, etc. Overall, in summary, it seems a solid enough 1 st quarter of 2021 for QBE, with reasonable outcomes across the board.
Changes to forecasts
We lift our QBE FY21F/FY22F EPS by 17% and 4% respectively. Our earnings changes reflect the benefits of the aforementioned +A$70m MTM gain in 1Q21 and a lift to our running yield assumptions on fixed income securities. Our PT rises (login to view).
Investment view
While FY20 was a difficult year for QBE, we think it concealed continuing underlying business improvement. With strong rate increases still flowing through QBEs insurance book, and further cost-out benefits to come, we expect QBEs earnings profile to improve strongly over the next few years.
We see the stock as relatively inexpensive overall, trading on ~16x FY21F PE, which is below its historic discount relative to the market (82% vs 87% of the ASX 200 level).
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