Natural disasters hit Suncorp result
Natural disasters and other factors have served to significantly undercut Suncorp's annual result, with the company reporting an almost 36 per cent slump in net profit after tax of $453 million.
In an announcement released to the Australian Securities Exchange today, the company said the result reflected the worst period of natural disasters in the region's history.
At the same time, Suncorp announced it had moved chief executive Patrick Snowball from a fixed term contract to a rolling contract, on the basis of his remaining with the company until at least 2015.
Under the terms of the contract change, Snowball's fixed remuneration will be $2.55 million a year.
Despite the profit slump, the company maintained its dividend at 35 cents per share fully franked.
The result announcement revealed the company had dealt with more than 100,000 natural hazard claims worth an estimated gross cost of $4 billion being managed across Australia and New Zealand.
It said the company's general insurance after tax profit was $392 million, down from $557 million last year, while the core bank after tax profit was $259 million, down from $268 million last year.
Suncorp Life recorded an after tax profit of $149 million, down from $222 million last year.
Commenting on the result, Suncorp chief executive Patrick Snowball said they had confirmed the substantial improvement in the underlying strength and performance of Suncorp businesses.
He said the group's balance sheet and capital position had strengthened considerably over the financial year due to the implementation of the non-operating holding company structure and the continued run-off of the non-core bank portfolio.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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