EQS-News

W&W Group continues to improve its market position in 2023 - Seite 2

Jürgen A. Junker, CEO of W&W AG: “The environment in 2023 was anything but easy. It was shaped by external factors such as steep price rises as well as people’s uncertainty as a result of the political situation. There were also losses caused by adverse weather. Despite the unprecedented concentration of negative influences, the Group continued to make significant progress. Strong new business in particular underscores the attractiveness of our products and services for customers and not least the resilience that the W&W Group has developed with its more than 6.5 million customers. It shows that our Group can also succeed under difficult conditions. This is thanks to our customer-focused and cost-efficient way of working and our successful digital transformation. Our solidity and resilience have also helped us to handle the unprecedented intensity of claims.”

Junker continues: “Particularly notable and disadvantageous to policyholders is the sharp increase in costs for reinsurance and at workshops. The price increases at workshops with hourly rates sometimes exceeding EUR 200 are clearly out of control. Reinsurers’ amended pricing and underwriting policies are ultimately also negatively affecting consumers, even though we have adjusted to these challenges in the interests of our customers.”

 

The W&W Group’s key figures in 2023 (IFRS)

At EUR 140.5 million, net profit was below the previous year’s figure of EUR 237.7 million (figure adjusted to IFRS 17) and thus in line with the forecast as updated in October 2023. This was chiefly influenced by the significant decline in the technical result of EUR 121.8 million (previous year: EUR 308.2 million) due to the high claims expenses.

Gross general administrative expenses increased by 5.1 per cent to EUR 1.15 billion (previous year: EUR 1.09 billion), primarily due to continued high investments in the digitalisation of processes and efficient IT infrastructure.

 

Housing division

In the Housing division, Wüstenrot Bausparkasse AG – the clear number two on the German market – reported growth in net new business by contract volume of 20.5 per cent to EUR 16.73 billion in 2023, the best figure in the company’s history. Wüstenrot’s market share will therefore increase by nearly 2 percentage points.