Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A.

Good afternoon, this is the Corusco Conference Operator. Welcome and thank you for joining the Generali Group full year 2024 results presentation. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, they may sing with an operator by pressing star and zero on their telephone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Fabio Cleva, Head of Investor and Rating Agencies Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining our full year 24 results call. Here with us today, we have our Group CEO, Philippe Donnet, the General Manager, Marco Cesana, the CEO of Insurance, Giulio Terzeriol, and the Group CFO, Cristiano Borean. Before opening for Q&A, let me hand it over to Philippe for some opening remarks.

Thank you, Fabio. Good morning, and thank you for attending our full year 2024 results call, for which I'm joined by Cristiano, Giulio, and Marco. Before we open the Q&A, let me share a few key remarks with you. These results mark the conclusion of our Lifetime Partner 24 Driving Growth Plan, and we are proud to have over-delivered against all financial targets. It is the third consecutive strategic plan we have successfully completed, and our 2024 results further confirm our group is the strongest it has ever been. The operating result at 7.3 billion and the adjusted net result at 3.8 billion for the full year are new record highs, and they have been achieved thanks to the very positive contribution from all business segments. When we presented our full-year 2023 results, I stressed that the return to positive net collection would be one of our priorities. In life, net inflows at year-end 2024 were close to 10 billion euros. This great achievement, which is unparalleled in the industry, was made possible by our powerful distribution force. Therefore, let me thank our agents and advisors for their excellent work. These net inflows were entirely driven by protection and unit-linked lines. Our continued focus on underwriting, discipline and in-force management has resulted in a further increase in the share of life reserves related to capital-like products, reaching 71% at year-end. In property casualty, the 7.7% increase in gross return premiums was driven by the positive performance of both motor and non-motor lines, which grew in all the main markets where we operate. Our tariff strengthening measures also continued to be effective throughout the year. This is also reflected in our improved undiscounted combined ratio, below 96% in line with our guidance, even when considering the 1.2 billion effect of natural catastrophes. The underlying trend showcases the ability of the team to successfully deliver. Our undiscounted loss ratio, excluding NADCAT and prior years, shows at 1.4 percentage point improvement. This is by far the best in the industry, and it would be close to two points with the same perimeter as 2023, excluding Liberty Seguros. As Giulio told you at our Investor Day, we are strongly focused on continued improvement in technical excellence. And this performance shows we are starting the new plan with a very positive momentum also on this front. Looking ahead, we are convinced that the key trends we shared on that occasion will create significant profitable growth opportunities for Generali. In line with the increasing demand from customers, premiums related to protection, health and accident continued to accelerate and now account for around 22% of the group's overall gross return premiums. This segment is highly profitable and it is central to our plan to increase the number of multi-holding customers. We have three key strengths that will ensure we achieve this. First, the best relationship net promoter score among our main peers. Second, a modular product offering to respond to customer needs. And third, a highly effective distribution platform boosted by enhanced usage of data and artificial intelligence. Proprietary distribution is an important cornerstone of our offering. We distribute over half of the policies through agents, almost double the average in the industry. When interest rates declined, our agents enabled us to transform our live book. When lapses increased, they enabled us to perform better than the market. As Marco highlighted in his presentation in Venice, our agents are fundamental in capturing growth across our preferred lines of business. Moving to asset and wealth management, the group's total assets under management reached 863 billion euros, growing by 32% thanks to positive net inflows and the consolidation of Koning Holdings Limited. The operating result of this segment grew by almost 23% to 1.2 billion euros. At the investor day, Woody explained the importance of having an integrated offering between our large life insurance book and our strengthened asset management platform. Fully leveraging this relationship is key for us. When this management team took over the helm of the group, remittances from subsidiaries were around 2.4 billion euros. In 2024, they reached 4.5 billion, contributing to the highest net holding cash flow we have ever reported at 3.8 billion euros. The relentless focus on cash and capital optimization has been one of Cristiano's priorities in the past six years as Group CFO. And it will continue to be an essential part of our focus on growing shareholder remuneration. Thanks to this healthy cash flow generation, a solid capital position with 220% solvency to ratio and the underlying growth of the business, we will propose at the next annual general meeting a dividend per share of 1.43 euro, up by almost 12% year on year. as well as a €500 million share buyback to be launched this year, subject to regulatory approval. Finally, I would like to mention the further significant progress we made as a responsible investor, insurer, employer, and corporate citizen. This will continue with Lifetime Partner 27 Driving Excellence, which has sustainability as one of its three key foundations. In conclusion, our 2024 financial performance is the result of our hard work across the last three strategic cycles, and we are now already focusing on the delivery of our new plan. We have committed once more to very ambitious targets, and we have everything it takes to succeed and to keep creating sustainable value for all stakeholders while driving excellence in everything we do. Before we open our Q&A, let me just remind you that we will be hosting our annual general meeting on April 24th in Trieste. I look forward to seeing you there, and I thank you very much for your attention. Operator, we are now ready to take questions on our 2024 results.