AXA CEO Buberl says H1 2019 results show ‘strategy paying off’

AXA’s results for the first half of 2019 showed that the “strategy was paying off',' according to the French insurer’s CEO Thomas Buberl, as he called 2018 “a decisive year for the group’s transformation process”.

Gross written premiums in H1 2019 were up to €55.68 billion from €50.38 billion for the same six months in 2018. Net consolidated income for the group fell to €2.33 billion from €2.79 billion in the same period a year earlier.

The combined ratio for the P&C segment of the group improved to 95.1 percent, down 1.2 percentage points from the first half of 2018. Combined ratios for the Protection segment and Health segments also improved by 1 percentage point to 93.2 percent and 0.7 percentage points to 93.9 percent respectively.

“AXA continued to deliver strong operating performance, with a plus 4 percent growth in revenues and a plus 10 percent increase in underlying earnings per share in the first half of 2019," Buberl said.

"AXA XL had a great first half with continued and disciplined growth in revenues and a solid contribution to the group’s earnings. Synergies are materializing well, and AXA XL should benefit from the increasingly positive pricing context.

AXA is very well advanced on its transformation journey. The group has reduced its sensitivity to financial markets, created the number one Global P&C Commercial lines insurance platform and strengthened its position as a world leader in Health insurance. We also further advanced in our Payer to Partner strategy by launching our own medical centres, notably in Mexico and Egypt, with the aim to simplify and enhance the healthcare journey of our customers."

In the results press conference, the CEO said “growth momentum triggered last year continued in H1 2019”. It was driven by 6 percent growth in P&C commercial lines revenues, which represented 32 percent of the group’s revenues. Revenue growth of 5 percent in the Health segment accounted for 12 percent of group revenues and growth in the Protection segment of 3 percent accounted for 15 percent of group revenues.

He said that the acquisition of AXA XL had allowed the company to speed up the transformation of its business mix and that, as he said in February, the integration of XL into the business was a priority.

“At AXA XL the commercial momentum turned out to be very favourable. Higher revenues stood at plus 9 percent at the half year. The rising trend of prices has been shored up in most of our lines. This growth momentum turned out to be profitable. The contribution of AXA XL to underlying results of AXA is at €502 million during this half year,” said Buberl.

“The complementary expertise of XL and distribution power of AXA is a real asset.”

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