Ageas posts solid first half insurance results
Insurance net profit of
EUR 340 million
(vs. EUR 329 million)
EUR 195 million
in the second quarter		 Life net profit at EUR 285 million (vs. EUR 201 million), driven by Belgium and Asia

Non-Life & Other Insurance net profit at EUR 55 million (vs. EUR 128 million), after important impact from  weather related claims in UK and Belgium

Group inflows (at 100%) up 10% to EUR 13.8 billion, largely driven by Life inflows in Asia (+15%) and Continental Europe (+24%)
Life inflows at EUR 10.7 billion, +13%
Non-Life inflows at EUR 3.1 billion, +2%

Group inflows (Ageas's part) at EUR 6.5 billion, + 6%

Group combined ratio at 102.0% (vs. 96.8%), including an estimated 4.6% negative impact due to the floods and storms in the UK and Belgium

Life Technical Liabilities of consolidated entities at EUR 72.0 billion, vs. EUR 69.2 billion at the end of 2013 (+4%)
Group net profit of
EUR 31 million
(vs. EUR 472 million)
EUR 1 million
In the second quarter		 General Account net loss of EUR 309 million (vs. a net profit of EUR 143 million); both results driven by legacies. EUR 157 million of this year's result is related to the further increase of the RPN(I) liability and EUR 130 million to the provision for the FortisEffect litigation
Shareholders' equity per share at EUR 41.11
(vs. EUR 37.65
at the end of 2013)		 Shareholders' equity of EUR 9.2 billion or EUR 41.11 per share (vs. EUR 8.5 billion at the end of 2013 or EUR 37.65 per share), mainly  due to higher unrealised gains on the fixed income portfolio

Insurance solvency at 208% (vs. 207% at the end of 2013); Group solvency ratio at 203% (vs. 214% at the end of 2013)

General Account net cash position at EUR 1.6 billion (vs. EUR 1.9 billion at the end of 2013)
Share buy-back programme of EUR 200 million, launched in August 2013, completed on 1 August 2014

New share buy-back programme		 Starting on 11 August 2014 for an amount of EUR 250 million
CEO Bart De Smet said:
"We are pleased with the insurance performance of the different businesses, and welcome the continued growth through our successful partnerships in Asia and Continental Europe. The Life business continued to perform well, benefiting from solid investment margins and a tax credit  in Belgium and from a profitable sales mix in China. In Non-Life the adverse weather conditions continued to take their toll on our results, with floods in the UK in the first quarter and losses reported in Belgium in the second quarter due to the June hailstorm. In total almost 50,000 families in the UK and Belgium have been assisted. These types of events are typically moments where our customers want to be helped immediately with professional and high quality support.
On a strategic level we have continued to invest in our business through the acquisition of the full ownership of the Portuguese Non-Life activities and a majority stake in the Italian Non-Life business. We sold the Life business of Ageas Protect in the UK to allow us to fully concentrate on our Non-Life and retail activities. We have also decided to appeal the recent Court decision relating to the FortisEffect litigation. Although no damages have been established to date in the current proceedings, we believe it would be prudent to constitute a provision of EUR 130 million. This decision does not impact our strategy and capital management. And finally we launch a new share buy-back programme."

Full text of the press release:
http://hugin.info/134212/R/1846782/643869.pdf


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Source: Ageas via Globenewswire
HUG#1846782