Jefferies cuts Gjensidige to 'hold' on margin pressures

Gjensidige Forsikring ASA

29/01/2024 10:07

** Jefferies cuts Norwegian insurer Gjensidige Forsikring
 GJFG.OL  to "hold" from "buy," seeing elevated weather claims
to continue to act as a headwind to margins in Q1
    ** "Having thought that claims frequency had been reflected
in consensus and that price rises were accounting for severity
trends, we were disappointed to find that underlying margins
materially deteriorated again in 4Q 2023," the broker says
    ** Jefferies adds that it has "little conviction" that this
will be resolved soon and that Gjensidige is able to implement
sufficient measures to manage the frequency pressures
    ** Similar to competitor Topdanmark  TOP.CO , Gjensidige's
claims burden was considerably greater than the market had
anticipated, and Q4 profits missed consensus by 22%, Jefferies
says
    ** The broker lowers its PT by 9% to NOK 188
    ** Out of 16 analysts covering Gjensidige, six rate it
"strong buy" or "buy," six rate it "hold," and four rate it
"sell" or "strong sell" - LSEG
    

 (Reporting by Elsa Ohlen)
 ((elsa.ohlen@thomsonreuters.com;))