Axa, Europe's second-biggest insurer after Allianz, has today reported an 18% drop in net income for 2020 as Covid-19-related claims hit earnings at its property and casualty insurance business.
Axa said that claims for business interruption and event cancellations due to the new coronavirus outbreak amounted to €1.5 billion, unchanged from a previous estimate.
"The impact from further lockdown measures in 2H20 was broadly neutral," Axa said in a statement.
The French insurer's net profit came in at €3.16 billion in 2020, down from €3.86 billion a year ago. Underlying earnings fell by 34% while revenue was down 7%.
Analysts had forecast net income of €4.4 billion and revenue of €97.23 billion, according to the IBES estimate from Refinitiv.
Axa's chief financial officer Etienne Bouas-Laurent told reporters that the group expected "good momentum" in prices at its company-focused XL unit, which was badly hit by the pandemic, to continue until the end of the year.
The insurer had said in November it would inject around €1 billion into XL unit to strengthen the capital position of a business hit by costs stemming from natural catastrophes.
The insurer said it planned to pay a €1.43 dividend per share this year from a reduced dividend of €0.73 last year when European insurers were required to cut dividend to keep reserves during the pandemic crisis.
Axa said last year it would keep streamlining its business by selling assets in some countries and markets over the coming years as part of its initiatives to boost returns.
