AXA Launches $2 Billion Share Buyback as It Posts Higher Nine-Month Revenues

By Ed Frankl

AXA SA said Thursday that it will be launching a share buyback program worth 1.7 billion euros ($1.97 billion), as it posted increased nine-month revenues.

The French insurer said the buyback will be launched on or around Nov. 8 and be complete by the end of April 2022, with the company canceling all repurchased shares.

The company added that it intends to launch a further buyback in 2022 for up to EUR500 million to neutralize earnings dilution from disposals after Dec. 1, 2020.

AXA also announced that its nine-month activity indicators, with total gross revenue of EUR75.97 billion in the January to September period, compared with EUR73.39 billion last year, driven by its French business.

The top-line figure is a rise of 4% year-on-year on a reported basis, or 7% like-for-like.

All business lines and geographies contributed to the growth, AXA's Chief Financial Officer Alban de Mailly Nesle said in a statement.

Gross revenues at its property and casualty business grew 5% like-for-like, while in life and savings, it grew by 12%, notably on individual savings products in France, AXA said.

At the company's U.S. subsidiary AXA XL, gross revenues rose 6% on a comparable basis. The company said Hurricane Ida losses in the summer were estimated at around EUR400 million.

The company's closely watched Solvency II ratio was 214% at Sept. 30, up 2 percentage points from the end of the second quarter.

Write to Ed Frankl at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 04, 2021 13:05 ET (17:05 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.