Munich Re Q2 Profit Declines; Gross Premiums Written Up 8.7% – Quick Facts

Munich Re (0KFE.L) reported second quarter profit of 579 million euros, a decline of 41.7 percent from previous year. Earnings per share was 4.14 euros compared to 6.88 euros. The Group recorded COVID-19-related losses of around 700 million euros, for the quarter. Operating result was 755 million euros, down 46.8 percent.

Second quarter Gross premiums written was 12.83 billion euros, an improvement of 8.7 percent from prior year.

In second quarter 2020, annualised return on equity (RoE) was at 10.4%.

Joachim Wenning, Chairman of the Board of Management, said: “We expect to post a premium volume of 54 billion euros in 2020 – which would set a new record in the 140-year history of Munich Re.”

Treasury yields fall ahead of unemployment data

• Initial job claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.
• Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan will give a speech at 10 a.m. ET. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York will also release its second-quarter Household Debt and Credit Report.

U.S. government debt prices were higher Thursday morning as traders looked ahead to new unemployment data.

At around 1:30 a.m. ET, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped to 0.5428% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond fell to 1.2161%. Yields move inversely to prices.

Treasurys

On the data front, initial job claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan will give a speech at 10 a.m. ET. An hour later, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will release its second-quarter Household Debt and Credit Report.

The Treasury is set to auction on Thursday $30 billion in 4-week bills and $35 billion in 8-week bills.

Nintendo reports 428% jump in quarterly profit, smashes estimates

TOKYO, Aug 6 (Reuters) – Japan’s Nintendo Co Ltd on Thursday reported a 428% jump in first-quarter profit, driven by ongoing demand for the Switch console and hit title Animal Crossing: New Horizons as the coronavirus outbreak boosts the games industry.

Operating profit for April-June was 144.7 billion yen ($1.37 billion). That compared with an average estimate of 71 billion yen from 12 analysts polled by Refinitiv SmartEstimate. ($1 = 105.4600 yen) (Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Edmund Blair)

Mitsui Fudosan Q1 Profit Down 58.5% – Quick Facts

Mitsui Fudosan (MTSFY.PK) on Thursday reported first-quarter profit attributable to owners of parent of 13.77 billion yen, down 58.5 percent from 33.18 billion yen in the year-ago period. Earnings per share fell to 14.21 yen from 33.84 yen last year.

Operating income decreased 27.6 percent to 36.86 billion yen from 50.89 billion yen a year ago.

Revenue for the quarter declined 4.7 percent to 407.03 billion yen from 427.17 billion yen in the prior-year quarter.

For the year ending March 31, 2021, Mitsui Fudosan affirmed its outlook for attributable profit of 120 billion yen, earnings per share of 124.04 yen, operating income of 200 billion yen and revenue of 1.85 trillion yen.

Mitsui Fudosan also said it has resolved to cancel the treasury shares at the board of directors’ meeting on August 6. The company will cancel 14.11 million common shares of the company on August 31, 2020. After the cancellation, the total number of issued shares of the company will be 965.28 million shares.

Singapore’s United Overseas Bank H1 Profit Down, Declares Dividend; Stock Up

Singapore-based United Overseas Bank Ltd. or UOB Group (UOVEF.PK,UOVEY.PK) reported Thursday that second-quarter net earnings fell 40 percent to S$703 million from S$1.17 billion last year.

The performance was impacted mainly by lower margins and higher credit costs amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Total income fell 12 percent to S$2.26 billion from S$2.58 billion last year.

Net interest income decreased 12 percent to S$1.46 billion from S$1.65 billion. Net fee and commission income was 15 percent lower at S$445 million, and trading and investment income declined to S$294 million from S$311 million a year ago, largely due to lower net trading income.

Further, the Board declared an interim dividend of 39 cents per ordinary share with an option for scrip dividend.

In Singapore, UOB shares traded at S$19.86, up 2.27 percent.

Synthomer Posts HY Loss

Synthomer plc. (SYNT.L) reported that its loss attributable to equity holders of the parent for the six months ended 30 June 2020 was 13.1 million pounds or 3.1 pence per share, compared to net income of 47.4 million pounds or 12.9 pence per share in the prior year.

IFRS loss before tax was 4.7 million pounds compared to a profit before tax of 56.6 million pounds in the previous year.

Underlying earnings per share was 10.8 pence per share, down 34.5% from last year, reflecting the lower profits before tax, the higher effective tax rate, and the impact of the pre-emptive acquisition financing 85 million shares rights issue in July 2019 ahead of the acquisition which completed on 1 April 2020.

Group revenue for the period declined to 733.7 million pounds from 762.7 million pounds in the previous year. The decrease reflected the very significant fall in raw material prices in the second-quarter 2020 as a result of the impact of COVID-19, more than offsetting the overall increase in volumes of approximately 2%.

The company now expects full year EBITDA to be broadly in line with current market consensus and accordingly the Board expects to pay a full year 2020 final dividend.

Phoenix Group Posts Higher H1 Results

Phoenix Group Holdings plc (PHNX.L) reported first-half group operating profit of £361 million, higher than the previous year’s £325 million, driven by higher new business profits on BPA transactions executed during the first half of the year. This has been partly offset by the lower positive impact of management actions and model and methodology changes within operating profit compared to the prior period.

The IFRS profit after tax attributable to owners is £486 million versus £39 million last year, primarily reflecting the improved operating profit and net positive economic variances arising on hedging positions held by the life companies to protect the Group’s Solvency II surplus position, compared to net negative variances in the prior period.

Total revenue, net of reinsurance payable, increased to £2.48 billion from £1.93 billion generated a year ago. Profit for the period attributable to owners of the parent soared to £486 million from £39 million last year. On a per share basis, earnings surged to 68.5 pence from 3.7 pence per share last year.