News: IAG UPDATE 1-Insurance Australia Group's annual profit doubles on higher premiums, investment...

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Aug 21 (Reuters) - Insurance Australia Group (IAG) said on Wednesday its annual cash earnings had doubled, thanks to healthy premiums growth in key markets of Australia and New Zealand and higher investment income.

Australian insurers have seen their profits rise over the past year as they wrote more premiums in the wake of extreme weather conditions and heightened living costs. Their fixed income and equities investments also benefited from high interest rates and market volatility.

IAG's gross written premiums were at A$16.40 billion ($11.06 billion) in fiscal 2024, a nearly 8% growth from the prior year and in line with the Visible Alpha consensus of A$16.42 billion.

The company's natural perils costs of A$983 million were also below the amount it had set aside for the fiscal.

While that helped Australia's top general insurer post cash earnings of A$905 million for the 12 months ended June 30, higher than the A$452 million reported in the prior year, it missed the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of A$954 million.

IAG also declared a final dividend of 17 Australian cents per share.

($1 = 1.4826 Australian dollars)