QBE Insurance Group Ltd (QBEIF) Q2 2026 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to QBE Half Year 2026 Results. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After this speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1 1 on your telephone keypad. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1 1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Group Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Horton. Please go ahead. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us today. I'm here with Chris Killourhy, our Group CFO, and we'll spend the next half hour taking you through what is another strong result for QBE. Momentum in the business is positive, and we're on track for another year of sustainable growth, resilient performance, and excellent returns. Before we begin, I'll start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the many lands on which we meet today. For me, this is the Gadigal lands of the Eora Nation and recognize their continuing connection to land, waters, and culture. I pay my respects to elders past and present and extend this respect to any First Nations people joining us today. Starting on slide four with a snapshot of our result. The first half performance was consistent with all our key guidance and targets for 2026. We launched our medium-term guidance in February based around an outlook of durable mid-single-digit premium growth and confidence in sustaining returns in the 15% plus range. For the first half, returns were excellent with a Group ROE of almost 18%, representing strength across underwriting and investments. Headline gross writte...