Profitable growth gaining momentum in all business:Life & Savings new business value up 20%, P&C revenues up 3%, Asset Management revenues up 6%.
- Life & Savings New Business Value (NBV) was up 20% to 443 million, mainly driven by France, the US, Japan and Southern Europe. As a result, margin on new business increased to 17.6% (or 18.5% on a comparable basis) from 16.4% in first half 2004.
- Life & Savings New Business APE1 increased by 6% to 2,515 million, mainly driven by strong sales in France, Southern Europe, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Hong-Kong. Unit-linked APE increased by 14% to represent 45% of total Life & Savings APE.
- Property & Casualty revenues increased by 3% to 10,314 million. Personal lines were up 4% and commercial lines were up 2%, benefiting from a resilient pricing environment and moderate portfolio growth. Other lines increased 2%, driven by UK Health.
- International Insurance revenues increased by 11% to 2,501 million, with AXA RE up 15%, due to the non-recurrence of some 2004 negative premium adjustments and to European and Asian expansion in line with AXA RE's objective to improve geographical diversification, and AXA Corporate Solutions Assurance up 9%, driven by Marine, Aviation and Construction.
- Asset Management revenues increased by 6% to 1,550 million driven by higher average Assets Under Management (AUM) (+14% compared to 1H04) as a result of favorable market conditions since June 2004 and strong net inflows. In 1H05, Asset Management net inflows, excluding Alliance Capital Cash Management Services, amounted to 16 billion.
"The evolution of our activity indicators in first half 2005 fits well into our profitable growth strategy," said AXA Chief Executive Officer Henri de Castries. "For instance, the increase in our Life & Savings new business margin stems from higher volume together with product mix improvement. The growth of our Property & Casualty revenues is in line with our long-term objectives and illustrates the continued underwriting discipline of the Group. This growth should result in increased profitability. The 16 billion long-term net inflows in Asset Management demonstrate ongoing strong momentum in AXA Investment Managers' third party activity and Alliance Capital's private client business. Our first half 2005 performance comforts our long-term growth targets."
Source: AXA
