Company Analysis: Wertgarantie FY2024
Still following the fachhandel after all these years...
Key Findings: Gross written premiums crossed €400m for the first time at €402.6m, up 9.9% YoY. Combined ratio of 92.2% sits at the favourable end of the peer range (Assurant EU 95%, D&G 94.5%). Club.Weiss acquisition adds 130 Austrian specialist retail partners to 8,300 existing; Samsung rental deal validates the hypothesis. Self-funding model: zero inventory, zero debt, 213% solvency ratio. Post-D&G acquisition, Wertgarantie is Europe’s largest independent warranty provider. Estimated EBITDA €45-50m.
I’ve mentioned it before, I like the rental model. No big cash outlay, payments are regular, simple return and upgrade options, and the rental firm looking after the second or third lives of the device can be a key driver of the device Circular Economy. But, the capital requirements and profit lag can be tough to work through initially, although, when the distribution infrastructure is already in place, the economics shift. You may, or may not, have heard of them, but Wertgarantie, Germany's leading independent warranty insurer appears to have reached the same conclusion, quietly acquiring an Austrian appliance rental platform in late 2024 and signing Samsung as a partner nine months later. It's an unexpected move from a 60-year-old specialist insurer, until you look at how they've always operated…
Recap
Wertgarantie, according to their website, started out when founder Kurt Jodexnis began insuring television sets in 1963. In 1970, the arrangement was incorporated as Elektro Dauer Garantie Reparaturversicherung AG (EDG) and then in 1980 Videowartungsring GmbH & Co. KG (VWR) was established to cover video recorders. Logical, yes. Excessive, probably, and in 1988 EDG and VWR merged to form WertGarantie Technische Versicherung AG. The 90s saw in a rebranding, the founding of Pet Insurer, AGILA and the introduction of bicycle insurance.
International market development began in 2003 as the business started writing policies in Austria and by 2009, Wertgarantie was active in eight countries. In 2014 they acquired Société Française de Garantie (SFG), a leading independent warranty provider in France and in 2018, GARANTE, a family-run warranty broker based in Madrid was brought on board.
Along the way they’ve added home warranty product lines for utilities, hearing aid protection, e-Scooter insurance, converted from an AG to an SE (Societas Europaea)1, simplifying future cross-border merger activity, decided that Pet Insurance was better off elsewhere selling AGILA to the Pinnacle Pet Group in 2023, with Wertgarantie retaining a minority stake in the JAB Holding-backed platform and Patrick Döring (CEO) joining the PPG supervisory board. They’ve rebranded the bicycle insurance to Linexo and most recently, management pushed the traditional insurance value chain boundaries by acquiring Club.Weiss Handels GmbH. The Austrian-based firm manages the operational rental business for the Club.Weiss association of approximately 130 specialist retail partners joining Wertgarantie’s 8,300 existing distribution partners across Europe2.
Patrick Döring, joined Wertgarantie in 1999 and took the helm in 2020. Döring’s CV includes an eight-year stint in the German Bundestag (2005-2013), culminating in his role as FDP General Secretary under party chairman Philipp Rösler3. When the FDP fell below the 5% threshold in 2013 and lost all its parliamentary seats, Döring returned full-time to Wertgarantie, where he had maintained board positions throughout his political career. So, whether politics lost and insurance gained will all come out in the numbers.
Continue reading for:
FY2024 performance breakdown by geography and product
Why Wertgarantie’s 55% loss ratio compares unfavourably to D&G’s 44%, and whether it matters
The zero-inventory claims model that transfers fulfilment risk to retail partners
Peer comparison: Wertgarantie vs Assurant UK vs Assurant EU vs D&G
Valuation framework: what an acquirer might pay and why shareholders would hold out
Alternatively, you can download a pdf copy of the report here