A MESSAGE FROM THE CEO
The year 2011 was filled with accomplishments and challenges. The environment of economic growth in Brazil, in spite of the crisis in developed countries, continued to propel the insurance market, which saw a nearly 16% growth over 2010. The insurance industry penetration in Brazil represents development opportunities, chiefly due to the expansion of the emerging Brazilian middle class.
Within this context, 2011 continued to single us out in terms of quality of service, service delivery, and convenient solutions for more than six million families and corporate clients. We work with three auto insurance brands: Porto Seguro, Itaú Auto, and Azul Seguros. With these, we meet the various needs of our different audiences, our insurance brokers, and our policyholders.
We ended 2011 with nearly 4.1 million insured vehicles and a total of over 11.6 million items covered by our products, which represents a 32% increase over the previous year. Earned premiums amounted to BRL 8,426 million, with a BRL 661 million or 8.5% increase over the sum of BRL 7,765 million in 2010, which does not factor in the Brazil-specific Roth individual retirement accounts (VGBL, acronym in Portuguese).
In addition, we took on the challenge of managing Itaú Seguros' tow truck and guaranteed hire car services. Now, three companies are managed by only one platform. The integration of auto insurance assistance resulted in a 28% growth in the volume of tow truck and guaranteed hire car services that are managed by Porto Socorro.
Our results also singled us out in terms of growth of total revenue, which, including net finance revenue, added up to BRL 10,155 million, a growth of BRL 979 million or 10.7% over the BRL 9.176 million during the previous year.
In 2011, earned premiums for the auto insurance segment added up to BRL 5,747 million, a BRL 312 million or 5.8% increase over the BRL 5,434 million in 2010. In turn, earned premiums for the health insurance segment worked out at BRL 852 million in 2011, with a BRL 137 million or 19.2% increase over BRL 715 million in 2010. In 2011, our policyholders and their dependents amounted to 567,000, a 27% increase over the 447,000 figure in 2010. In 2011, our net income added up to BRL 580 million, recording a 6.9% decrease over the BRL 623 million we earned in 2010.
This decrease is mainly due to an increase in retained loss expenses and the necessary administrative costs to sustain our distinguished service strategy.
The year 2011 was also filled with investments. We repositioned the Itaú Auto e Residência brand, which now relies on special benefits for Banco Itaú account holders. We continued to invest in the improvement of our research park and our operational and business relations with insurance brokers.
Additionally, we enhanced both results and operational structure of other businesses, such as credit card, financing, consórcio, monitored alarms, among others. Income from such businesses grew by about 27% over 2010.
I would also like to emphasize that we established Porto Seguro Telecomunicações S.A., a company that provides phone services. We optimized the internal management of cell phone costs. In addition, we seized the opportunity of bringing together our insurance products to add mobility to our clients and insurance brokers.
Within the context of campaigns and actions, I would like to emphasize the Porto Vias campaign, a service that provides drivers with real-time traffic information over notebooks, smartphone applications, or desktop computers. The driver, either in São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, chooses the best way to get to his or her destination. I would also like to emphasize the Trânsito+Gentil movement, a Porto Seguro Auto initiative for drivers to avoid aggressive behavior and treasure a more tolerant attitude as well as a quality-of-life program for employees, training for service providers, and policyholder benefits, such as cultural and food discounts.
I would like to thank all of our employees, providers, and insurance brokers, who did their job with dedication and commitment, during 2011.
Jayme Brasil Garfinkel
CEO, Porto Seguro