FBD says Éowyn was the most significant storm in its history

While the effects from storm Éowyn are not included in the FBD’s 2024 financial results published on Friday, FBD did give an estimate of €30m for the overall net costs to the company from the event.

Éowyn was “the most significant storm event in FBD’s history” the company said. While the total number of claims related to the storm remain uncertain at this stage, FBD said its reinsurance programme provides coverage for extreme events which will mitigate the financial impact.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, FBD CEO Tomás Ó Midheach said that while the net cost to the insurer would be in the region of €30m “we would expect the overall amount we pay out to our insured parties to be a multiple of that, possibly two to three times”.

That would put the payouts from storm Éowyn in the region of €60m to €90m.

Ó Midheach did caution that it is still too early to give an absolute value on the payouts as the company has not finished its assessments. He did note that FBD is disproportionally exposed to storms like Éowyn because of the nature of the company’s customer base.

2024 results

FBD Holdings Plc annual results for 2024 showed a profit before tax of €77.1m, a small decrease from 2023’s €81.4m. The insurer has proposed an ordinary dividend to shareholders of €1 per share.

Looking at the details of the result for the year, insurance revenue increased 13% to €460m. The underwriting result was 13% lower at €66.6m while investment returns increase by 36% to €26m.

FBD said that policy counts increased by 33,000 during the year, with farmer, business and retail sectors all growing during the year. Average premiums increase by 5.8%, with home premiums up 10.3% and farm premiums 8.1% higher. The company said that the increased premiums reflected increases in property sums insured as rebuild costs continued to rise.

Storm Isha in January 2024 and storm Darragh in December contributed significantly to a 23% increase in property notifications compared to 2023.

The average cost of property claims increased by 20% during the year. FBD said the company is starting to see indications that costs for motor damage claims are beginning to stabilise.

FBD will hold its annual general meeting on 8 May, where former Tirlán CEO Jim Bergin is scheduled to be appointed as chair of the organisation.