had a look at the (jargon riddled) latest QBE investor presentation. Couldn't make head nor tail of it.
"QBE is an international general insurance and reinsurance group underwriting commercial and personal lines of business through operations in 38 countries."
A longstanding CEO, Frank O'Halloran, built QBE to its current staus. He was thought to be a master of the numbers; and an acquisitor of no mean repute. Now we all all know a myriad of sins can be hidden in growth strategies. Harry Hindsight wrote then that the company had "poor underwriting practices, under reserving, weakness in its capital and poor risk management."
Then in 2011, John Neal was bought in. To steady the ship. Writedowns and selling off a few 'non-core' assets followed (and besides, it's almost obligatory to clean up the balance sheet and lower expectations. How else can allocated performance options end up 'in the money' at the end of the new CEO's time at the helm?).
The $254 million loss recorded in calendar 2013 was meant to mark the beginning of a "period of refocus and stabilisation". Neal managed to lift the return on equity from about 7 per cent to 8 per cent but QBE shares were trading at a price less than they were when Neal took over as CEO.
It is generally accepted that Neal transformed QBE from a disparate group of siloed businesses into an integrated global insurer. Then in Sept 2017, chief financial officer and head of Australian and New Zealand operations, Pat Regan, was appointed chief executive.
Not much happened for a year or so, probably more "refocus and stabilisation"; after which the SP started to build. No escape velocity, but the bad news became less and insto's re-found their confidence/ nerve to take or build stakes.
I mean, QBE can be attractive, given its very size. Sits in indexes, can outperform. Sometimes is a 'must hold' type company. And ability to achieve targeted rate increases, and analysts like things like "Attritional claims ratio", "reduction in peak catastrophe exposure", "premium rate adequacy measures" and the like THAT CAN BE MEASURED .... and if these trends are positive, such that RoE and Earnings are good (and there is always a margin in everything). And there always is a lot of cash sitting within the company, on the sidelines; bolstering the balance sheet.
in Feb 2019 the AFR said
Insurance giant QBE used to be seen as a black box. It's still a complex beast, but chief executive Pat Regan is making strides towards keeping things as simple as possible. The key number from the 2018 full year result is the group's combined operating ratio, which is the main measure of profitability. It improved from 103.9 per cent in 95.7 per cent in 2018, thanks to better pricing and lower costs. Regan says it will be between 94.5 per cent and 96.5 per cent in 2019; if he can hit the midpoint of 95.5 per cent, he'll eclipse market expectations.
"Premium rate momentum has continued into 2019 with average premium rates up by around 4% (ex CTP) in the first quarter, consistent with our experience in the first quarter of 2018. We have experienced positive rate in all of our divisions due to a combination of market conditions and our disciplined approach to pricing and risk selection.”
May 2019 - Pat Regan, CEO, QBE Insurance Group
good luck. Not my type of stock. Don't need to hold.