Axa posts higher revenue
(Reuters) — Axa, Europe’s second-biggest insurer, Thursday reported its first-quarter revenue grew to €34 billion ($36.34 billion) from €31.8 billion in the year-earlier period.
The French insurer said its commercial revenue rose 7% on a comparable basis to €12.1 billion, underpinned by its U.S. subsidiary Axa XL. Its two other main divisions — life and health insurance and asset management — also reported higher revenue in the first quarter.
Axa's solvency II ratio, a measure of its capital strength under the European Union's risk-measurement rules for insurers, stood at 229% at the end of March, or 2 percentage points higher than at the end of 2023.
Asked about the impact of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Chief Financial Officer Alban de Mailly Nesle said he expected related insurance claims to cut less than €100 million from the group's pre-tax earnings in 2024.
“We estimate the impact to be 0.1 billion (euros) before tax and after reinsurance based on a total industry impact of 1.5 billion,” he told reporters in a call, adding it would be less than this figure.
Axa commercial insurance unit Axa XL is lead underwriter on the International Group $3.1 billion reinsurance policy for ship insurers.
