Generali posts rising nine-month profit despite 1.5 billion euro disaster hit

MILAN, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Italy's top insurer Generali on Friday reported rising nine-month results despite a €1.5 billion hit from natural catastrophes and said it was on track to exceed all targets in its three-year plan ending in 2027. 

Operating profit, the figure most closely watched by the market, rose 8.5% to €6.45 billion in the first nine months of the year. Adjusted net profit was up 12% to €3.7 billion compared to the previous year. Both were broadly in line with a company-provided analyst consensus.

The group's non-life business was hit by natural catastrophes and man-made losses, which worsened the undiscounted combined ratio - an insurance industry measure of underwriting profitability - by 0.9 percentage points to 95.1%, compared with a consensus forecast of 94.8%.

(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro, editing by Giulia Segreti)