The insurer Axa unveiled Thursday a net profit down 18% in 2020, to 3.16 billion euros, mainly because of the pandemic and "
solidarity measures
".
Turnover, meanwhile, fell 7% to 96.7 billion euros.
At constant exchange rates, however, the variation was limited to -1%.
This drop in net profit is explained "
mainly due to the impact of claims related to the pandemic and solidarity measures taken by Axa
", estimated at 1.5 billion euros in total, explained during a conference call Etienne Bouas-Laurent, Group Chief Financial Officer.
If the damage branch, "
logically the most affected by the crisis
“, According to Etienne Bouas-Laurent, saw its sales grow by 1%, the increase in claims has halved the operating profit of the activity.
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In particular, but not only, operating losses cost Axa 1.1 billion euros and event cancellations 600 million.
Amounts "
partially offset by the drop in motor insurance claims
", underlines the earnings release.
For the rest, the insurer reported a drop in turnover of 6% for the “
life, savings, retirement
” activity, and an increase of 6% for the health branch, “
with a growth in all of our geographic areas
”.
As for asset management, turnover increased by 4%.
Axa has announced that it wants to pay a dividend of 1.43 euros per share in 2021, an amount identical to that announced last year, before the crisis forces it to be lowered to 70 cents.
For the year 2021, Etienne Bouas-Laurent noted a positive commercial dynamic for its subsidiary Axa XL with price increases which should continue after an increase of around 10% last year.
The group has also taken out coverage for this subsidiary in the event of “
possible unfavorable developments
”.
In the third quarter, the group announced the injection of one billion euros of capital into its insurance and reinsurance subsidiary XL, bought in 2018 and strongly affected by the cost of natural disasters and claims linked to the pandemic. .
Finally, concerning the disputes between Axa and restaurateurs, and the first instances of which have rendered various decisions pending the first appeal judgments, the financial director indicated that “there are
still many uncertainties
” and that he is "
too early
" to communicate publicly on the amount provisioned in the event of defeats.
