TWR - Tower Insurance

[Shareguy]

Dai-ichi Life Life Group's New Zealand subsidiary, Partners Group Holdings, has agreed to acquire 100% of Fidelity Life Assurance Company for NZ$630m

Fidelity Life reported insurance revenue of NZ$459m and pre-tax profit of NZ$24m for the year ended March 2025, while its net assets stood at NZ$221m.

Tower Reported profit YES 2025 $83.7m (up from $74.3m in FY24)
On Gross written premium (GWP): $600m, up 2%. Net assets of $350m

[Ferg]

That's a huge multiple for Fidelity.  There must be more to it.

[Southern Lad]

I suspect the life insurance industry is very different to general insurance. 

After a quick look, the accounting standards for life insurance require the present value of premiums over the life of the contract to be booked as an asset and the present value of the expected payments under the policy to be booked as a liability, and the expected profit to be spread over the term of the policy.  The basis on which an acquirer would value the expected cash flows may produce a number that is quite different to the shareholders funds determined under the applicable accounting standards.

[Basil]

Looks like Tower is attracting more buyers as we head towards end of year balance date at the end of this month. Wonder how much of their $45m large events reserve is left to enable the final divvy to be boosted this year ?

Maybe an update from the company soon ?

Maybe the well forecast El Nino weather pattern this summer will lead to a low claims environment and bigger special dividend for FY27 ?

Good to see a $2 handle again.

[HAWKDOG]

TWR - Tower updates FY26 guidance
Tuesday 6th October 2026


Kiwi insurer Tower (NZX/ASX: TWR) today revised its FY26 underlying net profit after tax (underlying NPAT) guidance for the year to 30 September 2026.

 

Based on preliminary, unaudited results, Tower now expects FY26 full-year underlying NPAT to be between $69m and $79m, compared with its previous guidance range of $55m to $65m. The uplift reflects Tower's large event allowance of $45m not being fully utilised during the year.

 

The expected FY26 result reflects a return to a more typical earnings profile after the unusually

favourable weather conditions and claims experience of FY25, which was an exceptionally strong year.

 

Tower's earlier guidance assumed the full utilisation of the FY26 large event allowance, which was set at $45m. Large event claim costs of around $25m were recorded for the financial year, with the unused allowance of around $20m increasing expected underlying NPAT by $14m ($20m less tax).

 

Reported profit will continue to be impacted by non-underlying costs including further customer remediation programme costs incurred in the second half.

 

Customer growth remains strong, with customer numbers increasing by 8% in the year to 345,000 customers, driven primarily by growth in New Zealand home insurance policies and new and existing partnerships delivering scale.

 

Gross written premium (GWP) growth of 3%, is in line with guidance growth of low single digit. Competitive pricing is supporting customer affordability and growth, while expanded risk-based pricing is strengthening portfolio quality and reducing exposure to weather-related impacts.

 

Tower will release full details of its FY26 performance with its financial results announcement on 26 November.

 

ENDS

[lorraina]

Forbar have today raised their  target price to $2.60.

[Poet]

Forbar have today raised their  target price to $2.60.

Well done Forbar! - unfortunately they're just three years late to the party.

[Southern Lad]

To be fair Forsyth Barr have been talking up TWR for the last couple of years, initially as part of their paid coverage arrangement which presumably TWR was paying for.  For all that, a target price of $2.60 is as high as I can recall.

[lorraina]

Forbar's research on TWR has been excellent.