Private health insurer nib says its first half net profit has dropped, due to higher than forecast claims costs.
The company said net profit for the six months to December 31 was $36.29 million, down five per cent from $38.31 million in the prior corresponding period.
Revenue rose 11 per cent to $633.34 million, nib said in a statement.
"Higher than forecast year-on-year claims costs, an increasing contribution to the industry's risk equalisation scheme (up 9.5 per cent) and one-off ambulance levy expense have impacted the company's first half gross margin," nib said.
nib said it expected a more stable underwriting experience for the second half of the year.
The company said its first half pre-tax net underwriting result of $39.1 million was down 8.6 per cent from the prior corresponding period, due to higher claims costs and one-off expenses.
Managing director Mark Fitzgibbon said nib had upgraded its pre-tax underwriting profit guidance to $75 million to $78 million, from $70 million to $75 million previously.
This was due to anticipated additional earnings from nib's newly acquired New Zealand business, nib said.
"In terms of top-line performance, we have seen strong revenue growth across the entire business for the six months ended 31 December 2012," Mr Fitzgibbon said in a statement.
"Encouragingly, policyholder growth within our Australian Resident Health Insurance business continues to be a key driver of this result, with policyholder growth up 2.4 per cent for the first half of the year.
"This compares very favourably to 1.3 per cent for the industry and is in keeping with our sustainable organic growth rate target."
The company declared a fully-franked interim dividend of five cents per share, up from 4.25 cents per share in the prior corresponding period.
