AXAHY AXA SA (QX)

   By Inti Landauro 
 

PARIS--French insurer AXA SA on Tuesday reported a 1% increase in first-quarter revenue as the good performance of its international insurance and property and casualty businesses offset the poor performance of its asset-management unit.

Europe's second-largest insurer by market value said revenue increased to 31.8 billion euros ($36.6 billion) in the three months to the end of March from EUR31.5 billion a year ago. Analysts had expected the French insurer to report EUR32.14 billion in revenue in the first quarter, according to a Dow Jones poll.

AXA's earnings this year highlight the group's new strategy of investing in fast-growing businesses and emerging markets to revive growth amid persistently low interest rates and slow economic growth in its domestic market. The company said its revenue from asset management fell as the amount under management fell as did the average fees due to a higher share of fixed-income products.

Revenue at its life and savings division was down 0.6% at EUR17.4 billion, while property and casualty revenue was 2% higher at EUR11.7 billion.

Life and savings annual premium equivalent, known as APE, was up 16% at the end of March. APE measures new business growth for life insurance by combining the value of payments on new regular premium policies, and 10% of the value of payments made on one-time, single-premium products.

The company said its solvency ratio--a key measure of an insurance company's financial strength--stood at 200% at the end of March, down from 205% a year ago.

Write to Inti Landauro at inti.landauro@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 03, 2016 12:49 ET (16:49 GMT)

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