By Alice Uribe

SYDNEY--Insurance Australia Group Ltd. reported a half-year net profit, reversing last year's interim loss, but made a slight cut to its dividend.

The Australian general insurer recorded a profit loss of 173 million Australian dollars (US$124 million) for the six months through December, compared to a A$460 million loss a year earlier.

Cash earnings at IAG, a measure tracked by analysts that excludes certain costs and one-time items, fell to A$176 million from A$462 million a year earlier.

Still, IAG's reported gross written premium of A$6.57 billion increased by 6.2% from a year earlier. The insurer said this was driven partly by both higher premium rates and volume growth across personal short-tail classes in Direct Insurance Australia.

Directors of the company declared an interim dividend of A$0.06 cents a share, down from a payout of A$0.07 a year earlier.

Consensus forecasts compiled by FactSet pointed to a 1H profit of A$183 million and an interim dividend of A$0.05 per share.


Write to Alice Uribe at alice.uribe@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-10-22 1717ET