Axa’s first-half profit rises 2%

(Reuters) — Axa S.A. reported a stronger than expected rise in net profit for the first half of the year, helped by higher asset management and property/casualty earnings, and by lower restructuring costs.

Europe's second largest insurer said on Thursday that it was confident of achieving its 2020 targets that involve €2.1 billion in cost savings over 2016-2020, and a 3% to 7% average annual growth in earnings per share.

Its first-half net income rose 2% to €3.27 billion ($3.9 billion), beating the average of four analyst estimates of 3.14 billion euros in a Reuters poll.

Revenues rose 0.5% to €54.28 billion.

"Revenues overall have been stable, but we have clearly realized growth in our target sectors, particularly on the P&C (property and casualty) commercial side, but also on health," chief executive Thomas Buberl said in a TV presentation posted on the group's website.

Mr. Buberl, who took over as CEO last year, plans to overhaul the group's U.S. operations, proposing to float a stake in its American life insurance and asset management businesses in 2018 in order to free up capital and pursue takeover targets elsewhere.