MILAN Italy's top insurer Assicurazioni Generali posted on Friday a 29.6% rise in nine-month adjusted net profit as higher premiums offset claims from natural disasters, adding it was sticking to its targets for 2024.

Nine-month adjusted net profit came in at 2.98 billion euros ($3.23 billion), compared with a company-provided analyst consensus of 2.95 billion euros.

Group operating profit, a figure closely watched by the market, rose 16.7% to 5.1 billion euros, compared with the consensus forecast of 5.04 billion euros.

"Thanks to its diversified business model and solid capital position, Generali remains fully on track to successfully achieve all the targets of our 'Lifetime Partner 24: Driving Growth' strategy," group head of finance Cristiano Borean said in a statement.

Generali's solvency ratio was 224% at the end of September, compared with 221% at the end of 2022, but below analysts' consensus of 227%.

The combined ratio of the non-life business, a measure of profitability used by insurers to gauge how well they perform in their daily operations, was down 3.1 percentage points to 94.3% as a higher discounting effect offset the 3.7 percentage points hit from natural disasters, the company said. A ratio below 100% indicates the company is making an underwriting profit.

($1 = 0.9217 euros)

(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro Editing by Federico Maccioni and Mark Potter)