Hunter-based insurance company NIB has recorded a 19.4 per cent jump in profits in the first half of the financial year.
NIB Holdings Limited said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange on Monday that its net profit after tax was $104 million for the six months to December 31.
The group's total revenue was up 12.4 per cent to $1.7 billion and underlying operating profit was up 21.7 per cent to $144.4 million.
NIB will pay shareholders an interim dividend of 15 cents per share.
Group chief executive Mark Fitzgibbon said the result was pleasing, but COVID-19 factors continued to drag on profitability.
"The underlying business is in great shape," he said in the ASX statement.
Incurred claims increased 9.1 per cent.
Mr Fitzgibbon said the company's core health insurance sales had grown 3.6 per cent in the year to February 16 after relatively weak growth in the second quarter.
NIB's Australian residents health insurance business was responsible for $128.6 million of the group's operating profit, a result boosted by a favourable release of liability for incurred but not yet paid claims.
NIB's share price fell 46 cents to $7.72 on Monday after the half-yearly results were published.
