Línea Directa maintains its path to profitability, earning 10 million euros in the first quarter of 2024.

Straight line accumulates three consecutive quarters of positive profit from the second half of last year. The insurer, led by Patricia Ayuela, ended March with a net profit of 10.1 million euros, compared with a loss of 5.3 million in the same period last year. Its shares rose just over 2% after the figures were revealed and built on a 13% gain for the year as it tries to recover from declines in recent years.

The company says the improvement is due to increased profits as a result of better selection of customers and the rates they charge for insurance, as well as claims management, following a year in which the sector had to grapple with high repair costs as a result of inflation which led to to the fact that all companies were forced to abandon some insured persons and increase premiums. All this This allowed them to increase revenue by 3.4%, while reducing the number of policyholders by 4.5%, to 3.3 million policies.

Premiums issued reached €251.4 million, up 3%, with positive contributions from all business areas (Automotive, Home, Health). In the automotive segment, the group’s core business, premiums rose by 2.2% to €195.8 million. the insured portfolio is 2.46 million insured, down about 150,000 from a year ago.

“We started 2024 with good results in terms of profitability, with a gradual and sustained improvement in our profitability and profitability, confirming the reversal of the cycle we have begun,” says Ayuela, CEO of Linea Directa.

Business direction Households grew by 4.4%, up to 39.3 million euros. Finally, the nascent healthcare industry had 118,000 insured people, up 10.7%, and premiums issued increased by 8.7% to €15.6 million, a record for its quarterly settlements.

Thus, the Línea Directa group managed to return to profitability, as reflected in the combined ratio, which fell by 9.5 points to 97.3% (below 100% the business is considered to be making money). This improvement was largely driven by the auto industry, where the combined ratio fell more than 10 points to 96.5%. In turn, the solvency margin increased to 183%.