AXA H1 underlying profit up 5% helped by property & casualty unit
Reuters
Published Aug 03, 2023 06:16
Updated Aug 03, 2023 06:30
By Laura Lenkiewicz
(Reuters) -French insurer AXA on Thursday posted a better-than-expected 5% increase in half-year underlying earnings, driven by higher premiums and below-average damage claims for natural catastrophes in the company's property and casualty (P&C) business.
Its half-year underlying profit reached 4.11 billion euros ($4.49 billion), above the 3.96 billion euros forecast in company-compiled consensus.
"The increase in pricing we are observing now is the result of inflation and the rise in reinsurance rates," said Alban de Mailly Nesle, AXA's chief financial officer, in a conference call with journalists.
AXA also said on Thursday it had agreed to buy Irish health insurer Laya from Corebridge Financial, a subsidiary of AIG (NYSE:AIG), for 650 million euros to expand its position on the European health market.
Europe's second-biggest insurer after Germany's Allianz (ETR:ALVG) reported a jump to 235% in its end-June Solvency II ratio, a key measure for its financial health, up 20 percentage points from end-Dec and above the estimate of 222%.
AXA said its damage claims from French riots in late June and July amounted to around 125 million euros, and their impact was already included in the insurer's half-year report.
90% of those damages were incurred by businesses and professionals rather than private households, Frédéric de Curtois, AXA's deputy chief executive, said in a conference call.
The total cost of insurance claims following the urban unrest amounted to 650 million euros, mainly affecting professional and local authority property, according to the French insurers association France Assureurs.
($1 = 0.9136 euros)
Get The App
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.