I would now like to hand the conference over to Ms. Nadine Gooderick, Managing Director. Please go ahead.
Thank you for joining ClearView's Full-Year 2025 Results Briefing. I'm here today with Athol Chiert, ClearView's Chief Financial Officer. In a moment, Athol will take you through the results in more detail, but first I will provide an overview and strategic update. There will be an opportunity to ask questions at the end. The FY 2025 result includes a strong second-half performance that provides a solid platform for accelerated growth into FY 2026. The business achieved double-digit growth in the second half, with the life insurance underlying NPAT up 12% to AUD 22.5 million. The life insurance underlying NPAT margin was restored as the growth claims/loss ratio reverted towards trend from the second quarter of the financial year. Overall, for the full year, ClearView achieved a life insurance underlying NPAT of AUD 37.7 million, down 5%, and a group underlying NPAT of AUD 32.3 million, down 8%.
FY 2025 was a year focused on quality new business with strong momentum, rebuilding in the fourth quarter of the financial year. ClearView is one of the leading challengers in the advisor channel, with steady new business market share, consistently strong growth in invoice premiums, and lapses remaining below industry. The overall IFA new business market has continued to grow at 8% year-on-year to circa AUD 323 million of new sales, with structural tailwinds supported by the stabilization of the advisor channel. ClearView achieved new business sales of AUD 31.5 million over the financial year, tempered somewhat by a disciplined focus on quality sustainable growth in a competitive environment. The FY 2026 guidance we have provided is broadly aligned to the FY 2026 goals we previously communicated. The dividend policy remains unchanged, with the 12/10 share buyback program to resume immediately after the annual results are released.
Recommencing dividends in FY 2026 is also under consideration, but is dependent on the quantum of shares purchased under the share buyback program and other factors. I will discuss this in more detail later in the presentation. ClearView has delivered on its simplification and transformation commitments, including fully completing the exit of our wealth management business in the second half of FY 2025. Over the past four years, we have invested heavily in technology, implementing a cloud-based core insurance platform. The final phase of this work, the migration of the remaining products that are closed to new business, is on track and due for completion in the first half of FY 2026. The delivery of this transformation enables a single core insurance platform with future flexibility, scalable growth, efficiency, and speed to market, and sets the business up for a multi-channel expansion and accelerated growth, including integration with new digital capabilities.
The next stage of our evolution is focused on implementing a front-end digital experience integrated with the core insurance platform, with a single view of the customer, designed to enhance the ease of doing business for both advisors and also for an expanded channel focus while driving operational efficiency. Unlike traditional incumbents constrained by complex legacy platforms and fragmented systems, ClearView 's investment in cloud-based architecture, automation, and data-driven decision-making enables faster innovation, lower cost to serve, and simplified servicing. The group is positioning itself as a digital-led, technology-led, efficiency-driven, pure-play life insurer, providing superior service to drive future growth in the Australian life insurance market. I will now hand over to Athol , who will take you through the results in more detail.
Thanks, Nadine. The FY 2025 result reflects a focused and disciplined delivery of strategic initiatives that set up the life insurance business for future growth acceleration, notwithstanding the short-term impacts from the adverse first-quarter claims experience. Key outcomes in the result to note are as follows: the business has achieved a 19% CAGR in group underlying NPAT from AUD 12.7 million in the first half of FY 2023 to AUD 19.9 million in the second half of FY 2025. Life insurance underlying NPAT margin was restored from the second quarter following a claims loss of AUD 6.2 million in the first quarter, as the gross claims/loss ratio reverted back to trend. Double-digit growth in life insurance underlying NPAT to AUD 22.5 million was achieved in the second half of the year, with the margin being restored to above 11% as the claims performance normalized.
The second half gross claims/loss ratio of 53% is in line with the long-term average over the past 16 quarters. Life insurance claims volatility can occur from time to time. A short period of elevated claims is not necessarily an indication of any longer-term trend. There is a continued strong track record of top-line growth, as can be seen in the result. The invoice premiums are up 10% to AUD 412.9 million, with the market share increasing to 3.9%. The clear choice premiums are up to AUD 112 million since the product was launched in October 2021, with the invoice premiums up 52% year-on-year. The gross premiums achieved 10% growth year-on-year to AUD 394 million. The business has surplus capital position of AUD 29.2 million as of the 30th of June, and the embedded value, excluding franking credits, increased to AUD 524.4 million, or just under AUD 0.82 per share, up 5%.
The underlying earnings per share overall for FY 2025 was AUD 0.05 per share, with the guidance range given for the FY 2026 underlying earnings per share being AUD 0.065-AUD 0.073 per share. This represents an over 30% increase of the lower full-year FY 2020 base and is supported by technology-led efficiencies, operating leverage, and benefit of business simplification. The technology-led investment and business simplification is anticipated to progressively drive sustainable improvement in the cost-to-income ratio. Gross premium rate increases have been implemented from the 1st of February 2025 on the life solutions portfolio. The repricing of this portfolio takes place through the general course of business to appropriately price for progressive risk and experience, including claims and reinsurance impacts. These changes do not affect the new product. The actuarial assumptions on the long-term income protection and TPD claims on the closed life solutions portfolios were further strengthened in the financial year.
Lapses have continued to be better than the industry, but affordability concerns in the repricing of the invoice portfolio resulted in the strengthening of the lapse assumptions, with an additional overlay for the price changes and cost of living pressures over the next few years. ClearView has net assets of AUD 349.8 million, or AUD 0.541 per share. The surplus capital position was positively impacted by the Tier 2 capital issuance in March 2025 of AUD 120 million, at a lower margin that is partially offset by the Tier 2 redemption reserve of AUD 75 million for the 2020 notes. The capital position also includes the removal of the 50% capitalized software asset benefit that was previously adopted to further strengthen the capital base and the impacts from the payment of the final FY 2024 cash dividend and implementation of the on-market share buyback in FY 2025.
The wealth management losses are no longer recurring post the exit of the business, and the surplus capital position includes the capital release from wealth management as expected. An industry-recognized measure of the value of a life insurance business is the embedded value calculations, or EV, which represents the discounted value of the projected future cash flows and the capital requirements of the invoice book of business at a point in time. The EV calculations are based on the long-term view of the business, including claims and lapse assumptions that are consistent with those adopted in valuing the policy liability in the order that counts. ClearView has an EV of just under AUD 0.82 per share, excluding franking credits, or AUD 0.94 per share, including franking credits, as at 30 June 2025.
I'll now hand back to Nadine to discuss the capital management and outlook for the business before opening up for questions.
Thank you, Athol. Before we discuss ClearView's outlook, I'd like to touch on capital management. As disclosed with the release of the half-year results in FY 2025, given the significant discount of the share price to embedded value and the company's view of value, the board considered that the best use of surplus capital was to conduct a share buyback in lieu of a dividend. The on-market buyback program was announced on 10th March 2025, with 11.4 million shares being purchased over the period to 30th June 2025. The board paused the on-market share buyback program pending the release of the FY 2025 financial results, and it is the board's intention that the share buyback program will resume immediately after the annual results are released. The dividend policy remains unchanged.
In line with this policy, the total impact of any capital management initiatives in a particular year, either through the declaration of dividends or conducting an on-market share buyback program, should not exceed the dividend target payout ratio of between 40% and 60% of group underlying NPAT from continuing operations. Recommencing dividends in FY 2026 is also under consideration, but it is dependent on the quantum of the shares purchased under the share buyback program and other factors such as profitability, funding requirements, and availability of surplus capital, which may be affected by economic conditions, business growth, and regulation. Based on the current share price, the board's intention is to focus primarily on share buybacks over dividends.
Factors that will be considered in determining the mix include the discount of the share price to the embedded value calculations, net assets per share, and the price earnings multiple that the share price is trading at. We have also provided FY 2026 guidance that is broadly aligned to the FY 2026 goals previously communicated to the market. Growth premium income in the range of AUD 435 million- AUD 440 million in FY 2026. FY 2026 life insurance underlying NPAT margin in the range of 11%- 12%. FY 2026 life insurance underlying NPAT in the range of AUD 47 million- AUD 52 million. FY 2026 group underlying NPAT in the range of AUD 42 million- AUD 47 million. Key risks to the achievement of the FY 2026 guidance include, but are not limited to, claims experience, execution of key technology programs, and related achievement of efficiencies, lapse experience, and interest rates.
My final call-out is on the key future focus areas for ClearView in FY 2026 . The next stage of ClearView's journey is aimed at drawing on our deep life insurance expertise and focus to offer greater flexibility and customization, making life insurance accessible to more Australians and their families at a lower cost to serve, driven by simplified business and technology architecture. ClearView is committed to completing the transformation and migration to its core insurance platform in the first half of FY 2026 . We have also commenced the delivery of an integrated digital front-end experience, which will enable expansion of our offerings and channels, driving accelerated growth as a technology-led pure-play life insurer.
This digital front-end will provide more data and insights to inform us about customer and advisor needs, allowing us to diversify offerings and use our simplified architecture to drive speed to market at a lower cost to meet these needs. Our ambition is to be the best at life insurance, with a dynamic challenger ethos, leveraging our simplified architecture and smaller, more agile company size to meet the targeted needs of our customers and advisors in faster, better, and smarter ways. Lastly, this year has been challenging, but I'm buoyed by the team's ability to quickly pivot and restore results. I'm immensely proud of what the team has achieved, and more than anything, I think this year's performance demonstrates ClearView's agility, deep life insurance knowledge and experience, and our can-do attitude.
I'm excited about the future of ClearView as we continue to deliver on our strategy and seek to accelerate growth and diversify our business in the next horizon. I will now hand over to the operator to open up for questions. Thank you.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you are on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Seeing no questions at this time, I will hand the call back to Ms. Gooderick for closing remarks.
Thank you. I'd just like to thank everyone for joining the call today. Thank you very much. Have a good day.
That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect your line.