Zurich posts higher Q1 revenue, affirms targets

(Reuters) — Zurich Insurance on Thursday reported higher first-quarter revenue and gross written premiums at its core property/casualty business, maintaining its targets despite instability in the crucial U.S. market.

Europe’s third-largest insurer by market capitalization said in a statement that rate increases of 4%, strong profitability in commercial and improved retail margins supported growth.

Oddo and Vontobel analysts said the results were solid but the latter noted that some investors might be concerned about the company’s exposure to the U.S. and the dollar’s weakness following President Donald Trump’s often confusing rollout of tariffs.

Chief Financial Officer Claudia Cordioli told reporters on a call after the results that “there’s no indication whatsoever” the turmoil in U.S. markets will lead the insurer to step back from its targets.

“We have a significant presence in the U.S., but so do we in Europe, in Asia. … The fact that we are translating business written in Europe or in Asia into dollars is actually a positive on our earnings because obviously that’s translating into a higher income in U.S. dollar,” she said.

The U.S. is Zurich’s single largest market, accounting for more than 40% of its property/casualty business.

Late last year, the insurer said it was aiming for a core return on equity of more than 25% between 2025 and 2027 and for cumulative cash generation of above $19 billion.

It posted property/casualty insurance revenue of $10.7 billion in the first quarter, compared with $10.2 billion in the year-earlier period, while gross written premiums in the branch grew 5%.

Zurich said it saw natural catastrophe losses with a combined ratio impact of 3.2 percentage points, up from 1.6 percentage points in the year-earlier period, noting that this was driven by losses from the California wildfires for which it estimated in February a pre-tax impact of $200 million.

Excluding the impact from the wildfires, the first quarter was “unusually benign when it comes to weather losses and catastrophe losses,” Ms. Cordioli said.