The sharemarket’s favourite insurer, QBE, has repaid shareholder support with a 28% increase in net profit for the first six months of the financial year. The $101 million profit for the six months to December 31 also vindicates Managing Director Frank O’Halloran’s wide-ranging global acquisitions policy.

“The acquisitions and initiatives over the past 18 months have been very positive for growth and profitability,” he told a media briefing after the result was announced. “They have provided the group with a strong base to take advantage of the current upturn in the insurance cycle.”

Gross earned premium was up 80% to $2.5 billion, and net earned premium increased 68% to $1.9 billion.

Mr O’Halloran said the company’s technical insurance results are “particularly pleasing”, with one of the best results ever recorded by QBE’s general insurance operations in Australia.

The result would have been particularly pleasurable to Mr O’Halloran at a time when AMP and NRMA reported lower investment returns. Reflecting the increasingly international focus of QBE is the fact that its Australian operations contributed only 22% to the result.

At a press conference announcing the profit, Mr O’Halloran indicated QBE might be interested in further expansion in Australia, although the focus is being maintained on Asia and Latin America. He said QBE has made 60 acquisitions over the past 20 years – an expansion policy that has kept it healthy through some extreme market fluctuations.