The NIB Holdings Ltd (ASX: NHF) share price has shot from the opening gates on Monday after the company reported its first-half FY25 earnings.
Shares in the insurance giant are now almost 11% higher, fetching $6.59 apiece at the time of writing, as investors digest the news.
Let's take a look at what the company posted.
NIB share price surges on mixed first-half
NIB put up a handful of key numbers in its first-half FY25 results. Here are the highlights:
- Total group revenue of $1.8 billion, up 7.7% from $1.7 billion in H1 FY24.
- Group underlying operating profit (UOP) of around $106 million, down 26.7% from this time last year.
- Net profit after tax (NPAT) of $82.9 million, down from $103.9 million in H1 last year.
- Statutory earnings per share (EPS) of 17.1 cents, down from 22 cents in the previous half.
- The board declared an interim fully franked dividend of 13 cents per share (versus 15 cents in H1 FY24).
What else happened in FY25?
The NIB share price had a mixed year on the chart in H1 FY25, and it wasn't too different for the business either.
Revenues were up nearly 8%, but the company's operating profits were down almost 27% from this time last year.
Meanwhile, its Australian Residents Health Insurance (ARHI) business saw policyholder growth of 3.3%, which is above the industry average. However, operating profits were down 21% for the ARHI business.
But management said H1 in FY24 saw "a period of unusually high margins" for the division and that current operating margins "returned to more sustainable levels, at 7%" this half.
One headwind NIB also faced last year was incurred claims inflation, which reduced from 6% in June to 5% by December.
Outside of health, the travel insurance business saw a slight decrease in gross written premium (GWP) to $84.4 million on flat revenues.
Management said GWP growth had picked up to about 11% as of Q2 this calendar year.
What else did management say?
Ed Close, NIB's Managing Director and CEO was broadly positive on the half, commenting:
ARHI had record, first-half sales growth in 1H25. We are growing our health insurance membership at a time when people are focused on finding value.
We are ambitious about delivering value for members. We have expanded our Australia-wide medical services 'Known Gap', and our 'No Gap' dental network, and continue to invest in our payer to partner strategy, automation and digital health experiences.
Close also touched on NIB's New Zealand business:
We have taken measures to get New Zealand back on track for 2H25, with December and January both profitable. Private health insurance remains an attractive proposition in the NZ market.
What's next for NIB?
Looking ahead to the second half of FY25, NIB expects ARHI margins to remain at the "upper end" of its target range of 6-7%.
NIB confirmed FY25 Group UOP guidance at $235 million to $250 million. In 2H25 UOP is expected to be supported by a favourable working day impact, continued strong performance in arhi and iihi, and an expected return to full-year profitability in the New Zealand business.
NIB share price snapshot
The NIB share price has started the year well in the green. With today's rise factored in, it's up more than 19% this year to date.
However, looking back over the past twelve months, the stock is still down by around 15%.
