Health insurance giant Medibank has posted a 6 per cent rise in half-year profit and minor growth in policy holders as the business dealt with the fallout of its major cyber crime incident.
The company's profit rose to $233.3 million in the first half of the financial year, with the insurer making a net gain of 1700 policyholders after losing 13,000 resident policies in the last three months of the year.
News that the company had suffered a major cyber hacking event that affected millions of customers surfaced on October 13 - at the beginning of those three months.
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Growth for the company was strong in the quarter before then, Medibank CEO David Koczkar has said in the company's half-yearly report.
Medibank shares will now pay a 6.3c dividend, up from 6.1c in the prior corresponding period, on March 22.
The new report has revealed the company's investment income increased by $25 million to $55.9 million in the first half of the financial year, but that the increase was offset by $26.2 million in costs incurred by the cybercrime event.
The company has said half-yearly results show continued momentum in the health insurance business, solid performance in Medibank Health despite the external environment, and a strong capital position.
Koczkar has said the company will come back stronger in 2023 after its loss of momentum at the end of 2023.
"There is more work to do, and the lessons we have learnt from the cybercrime will continue to shape our response and we will emerge stronger," he said.
He said "more normal business operations" had resumed in January following the cyber attack.
"Early signs of improvement in policyholder trajectory gives us confidence in regaining our growth momentum in the resident business."
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