Page 10 - Australasian Paint & Panel magazine

10
NEWS
PAINT&PANEL
MARCH / APRIL 2023
WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
IMPROVED IAG PROFITS
BRIEFS
IAG ANNOUNCED AN IMPROVED NET
profit after tax and reported margin in the first half in what it described as challenging economic conditions.
The company says it maintained good cost discipline and that the focus on growth and profitability delivered the strongest first half Gross Written Premi- um (GWP) growth in seven years, up 7.5% (1H22: 6.2%).
GWP growth was driven by rate in- creases, to offset the high inflation in the supply chain, as well as customer number growth in the home and motor portfolios.
Net profit after tax was up on the corre-
sponding half year at $468m (1H22: $173m). The company's reported insurance mar- gin of 8.5% (1H22: 7.1%) reflected growth across the business but was offset by the ongoing impacts of higher inflation on claims costs in home and motor. A $70m unfavourable net natural perils experience and a $48m prior year reserve strengthen-
ing also impacted the margin.
GWP grew by 9% in the Direct Insur-
ance Australia (DIA) business. While the growth was mostly due to rate increases, IAG also also saw volume growth of more than 2% across home and motor, and reten- tion levels remained high.
SAFETY POSTER COMP
THERE’S STILL TIME TO ENTER THE PAINT
& Panel/BASF safety poster competition. The winning design will receive SATA X5500 1.3 RP-I Limited edition spray gun and there will be two runner up prizes of Glasurit merchandise worth $200. If a child’s design wins there will be prizes for them too. The winner’s poster will also be distributed in the July/August issue of Paint & Panel for shops to display in their workshops.
We’re looking for a compelling mes- sage to encourage everyone to think about working safely. The competition closes on Monday 8 May and is open to anyone in the industry regardless of paint supplier. Submit your entries to SamStreet@yaffa.com.au
This SATAX5500 is up for grab plus loads of merchanidse.
AXALTA COATS AS9 HUNSTMAN
Axalta Australia has been selected as the coatings partner to Hanwha Defense Australia (HDA) for the Land 8116 Phase 1 project. This will oversee the manufacturing and painting of thirty AS9 Huntsman self-propelled howitzers artillery systems, and fifteen AS10 armoured ammunition resupply vehicles (AARV), commencing in 2024.
Under the new contract, Axalta will support the entire supply chain for coatings for both vehicles, and provide application training, coating testing capabilities and technical support to optimise painting operations.
THE EDGE IS BACK
Paint & Panel’s weekly podcast, The Edge is back on air after its Christmas break. You can find the notes for all of
the previous episode
by clicking the podcast
tab on our website’s
homepage. There’s
already a great line up
of guests booked in,
new episodes are published every Monday.
ASIC GUNS FOR RACQ
ASIC has launched Federal Court action against RACQ Insurance over pricing
discount failings as it cracks down on an industry-wide issue.
ASIC alleges that RACQ Insurance misled customers in its product disclosure statements about the discounts available for certain types of cover between February 2017 and March 2022.
The motor, home, caravan and trailer and unique vehicle policy statements indicated that discounts would be applied, but ASIC alleges it was misleading because they only applied to the base premium and not to the
additional amounts paid for certain optional extras.