Australia's Helia rises after Morningstar hikes valuation post ING contract renewal

Helia

07/07/2026 02:09

Updates
** Shares of Helia Group HLI.AX rise as much as 1.3% to A$5.65
** Morningstar raises fair value estimate for lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) provider by 5% to A$4.4
** Helia on Tuesday said ING Bank (Australia) selected Helia as its exclusive LMI provider
** Morningstar says the deal reverses course from a year ago when ING told Helia it was negotiating with an alternative insurer
** Adds that losing ING as customer was priced in; while Helia likely accepted less favourable terms, the renewal is seen as a positive
** Investment research firm's medium-term profit forecasts increase by avg 7% after adding ING business back
** Because the book isn't shrinking as much as feared, we've scaled back our assumed cost savings and cuts to technology spending - Morningstar
** Helia up 15.2% YTD, including the day's moves

(Reporting by Nikita Maria Jino in Bengaluru)
((Nikita.Jino@thomsonreuters.com;))