Suncorp looks past NRMA for alliance
The proposed back-office alliance between Suncorp Metway and newly-listed NRMA Insurance Group has come to a halt, with the Suncorp choosing to look elsewhere.
The proposed back-office alliance between Suncorp Metway and newly-listed NRMA Insurance Group has come to a halt, with the Suncorp choosing to look elsewhere.
Suncorp Metway chief executive Steve Jones says there has been much speculation over an alli-ance between the groups to merge their back-office operations.
Speaking after the Queensland-based group unveiled a 36 per cent increase in net profit to $335 million Jones confirmed that his group was not pursuing the NRMA offer, but instead was look-ing for other acquisitions.
“We have been looking for the last year and will continue to look at any acquisition opportu-nity,” he says.
“But it is not in our commercial interest to comment on any of those that might be underway or in prospect, but we're very keen in that regard.”
Jones says the group was looking for acquisitions to add products or put the group in new geo-graphical territory, however there was hardly any acquisition opportunities around.
“When you look through the banking market and general insurance market it is a fairly short list,” he says
“But there are a number of large overseas players that have Australian operations if any of them should decide to divest we'd be keen to talk.”
Jones says the successful completion of the last of the group's transformation programs in the first quarter of the financial year had significantly improved the company's operations and built a competitive cost base.
He says the period of cost savings growing earnings was behind the company after the company has completed full integration of the companies which merged to form Suncorp Metway in 1996.
The cost savings, of about $180 million a year, have come as a result of the completed merger between Suncorp, Metway and QIDC.
Operating expenses during the year to June 30, 2000, fell $57 million, from $602 million to $545 million, mainly due to a reduction in one-off costs associated with company's internal restruc-turing programs.
Jones says any increase in costs, should they arise, would be due to investments in expansion.
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