DUBAI, 1 March 2005 — International’s AXA Group, a worldwide leader in financial protection, reported from Paris that its profits more than doubled reaching 2.9 billion euro in 2004.
These strong figures reflect its success in ironing out some of the difficulties that had been weighing down performance in recent years. Revenue for the period was 72.2 billion euro compared with 71.6 billion euro a year earlier, the company said. “2004 has been a very good year, with all businesses performing well and now on a path toward profitable growth,” said Henri de Castries, CEO, AXA Group.
“AXA teams have built a unique platform in terms of scale and diversification and our 2004 results provide additional proof of the effectiveness of our organization and strategy. All indicators are good. I’m particularly pleased with our portfolio evolution — an increase of more than 500,000 new contracts in property and casualty, growth in life new business and new business value, and strong net asset management inflows.
All demonstrate the attractiveness of our product offering to our clients.” Some of the earnings highlights were: 2004 underlying earnings up 34 percent to 2.7 billion euro, adjusted earnings doubled to 2.9 billion euro, proposed dividend of 0.61 per share up 61 percent, and embedded value per share at 18.73 euro, up 15 percent.
The AXA Group, which employs 117,000 people in more than 60 countries, is providing protection to more than 50 million people worldwide. It is investing in the Gulf, to develop business in Bahrain, Oman and the UAE, aside from the Kingdom.
