French trade credit insurer Coface reported an 80% increase in net profit to €129 million ($165 million) in 2012.

The jump comes after last year’s profit was affected by a restructure costing €50 million ($64 million) as the company wound back its information, debt collection and factoring lines to focus on trade credit insurance.

When restructuring costs are excluded, the increase was 6.6%. Total turnover rose 1.4% to €1.57 billion ($2 billion).

Premiums increased 3.1% because of strong sales momentum, particularly in the emerging markets of Latin America, which grew 18.5%, and the Asia-Pacific, which grew 20.1%.

Premiums also grew 14.2% in the US, 2.4% in western Europe and 14.9% in central Europe, despite the economy’s “sharp deterioration”, but fell 11.8% in northern Europe.

The reinsurance combined ratio was 82.2%, half a percentage point better than last year.

Coface CEO Jean-Marc Pillu says the company has claims and costs under control.

“We succeeded in combining profitability and growth in the difficult context of a Europe still in crisis,” he said. “The support offered to our customers has been the driver of our commercial activity.”

The company does not expect economic improvement in Europe this year but says in this context trade credit insurance will be “more relevant than ever”.