Suncorp’s general insurance premium growth in the first three months was in line with expectations and is on track to reach 6% for the year, according to CEO John Mulcahy.

There have been relatively few big claims over the past year, and he says overall claims costs continue to show favourable trends. “We expect to report an insurance trading margin of between 11% and 14% – and probably towards the top of that range.”

Chairman John Story told the annual general meeting last week that he does not expect profit to grow by 61%, as it did last year, but he is confident about the outlook and is planning for a healthy improvement in underlying profit.