Regulated information: Ageas reports first half year 2016 Results
Insurance net result reflects strong operating performance and capital gain on Hong Kong sale
Group net result includes the provision for the Fortis settlement agreement
1
st
half 2016
Net Result
Insurance
net profit up 21% to
EUR 608 million
versus EUR 504 million
General Account
net result of
EUR 675 million negative
including the net impact EUR of 889 million of the provision for the Fortis settlement agreement
Capital gain of EUR 404 million on the divestment of the Hong Kong Life activities equally distributed over Insurance and General Account
Group
net result at
EUR 67 million negative
versus EUR 469 million
Inflows
Group inflows
(at 100%) at
EUR 18.3 billion
, up 10% (including 4% negative foreign exchange impact)
Group inflows (Ageas's part) grew 7% to EUR 7.8 billion (including 3% negative foreign exchange impact)
Life
inflows up 13% to EUR 15 billion and
Non-Life
up 1% at EUR 3.3 billion (both at 100%)
Operating
Performance
Combined ratio
at
99.0%
versus 95.4% including the impact of the Brussels terrorism events (1.9%) and adverse weather events in Belgium and the UK
Operating Margin Guaranteed
at
108 bps
versus 90 bps
Operating Margin Unit-Linked
at
28 bps
versus 41 bps
Life Technical Liabilities
of the consolidated entities at
EUR 74.5 billion
(+1% compared to the end of 2015)
Balance Sheet
Shareholders' equity
at
EUR 10.3 billion
or
EUR 49.59 per share
Insurance solvency IIageas
ratio at
183%
and
Group solvency II
at
209%
General AccountTotal Liquid Assets
at
EUR 2.1 billion
versus EUR 1.6 billion end 2015
2
nd
quarter 2016
Net Result
Insurance net profit
at EUR 407 million, up 33% compared to Q2 2015 and
Group net profit
at EUR 566 million, both positively impacted by the capital gain on the divestment of the Hong Kong Life activities
Belgium
Strong result supported by higher realised capital gains on real estate
Good operating performance offset by the impact of the Brussels terrorism events in Q1 and the adverse weather events in Q2
UK
Sustained growth in inflows in local currency, driven by Motor
Net result impacted by June floods and storms
Continental
Europe
First time inclusion of Ageas Seguros in Portugal
Net result impacted by downward movement of equity markets
Asia
China and Thailand main drivers of inflows and net result
Solid net result supported by the gain on the Hong Kong divestment
All 1
st
half year 2016 figures are compared to the 1
st
half year 2015 figures unless otherwise stated.
Ageas CEO Bart De Smet said:
"The first half of this year was marked by the announced settlement agreement related to the civil Fortis legacies in the first quarter, the closing of the sale of our Hong Kong activities and the acquisition of Ageas Seguros in Portugal. Since the initial announcement, the settlement has attracted further support from other parties which is a positive development in the process towards achieving a binding declaration from the Court of Amsterdam which we hope to obtain by mid 2017.
As we look more broadly at our Insurance activities, the Asian and Belgian Life business were the key drivers of the growth of inflows during the first half of 2016. This first half net insurance result, including the capital gain related to the Hong Kong divestment, was the best so far for Ageas. Excluding all exceptional events, our operating performance is improving and remains in line with our ambitions. The operational result combined with our solid cash position and very stable and strong solvency level give us the comfort to launch a new buy-back programme of EUR 250 million."
More information can be found in the press release attached.
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