Australia’s QBE H1 forecast disappoints

SYDNEY: QBE Insurance, Australia’s top insurer by premium, yesterday flagged a 40% fall in first-half net profit on equity losses and a lack of one-off gains, disappointing investors who knocked its shares down 6.5%.

QBE, which has made more than 75 acquisitions in 10 years to spread to 48 countries, said equity losses more than doubled to US$228mil, while the year-ago period had one-off gains of about US$220mil.