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 II ageas ratio at 183% and Group solvency II at 209%
  • General Account Total 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.

Pdf version of the press release



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Source: Ageas via GlobeNewswire

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