By Noemie Bisserbe and Inti Landauro
PARIS--AXA SA (CS.FR) on Wednesday reported a 10% rise in
revenue in the first quarter, helped by a weaker euro and a strong
performance in its property and casualty business.
Europe's second-largest insurer by market value said revenue
increased to 31.5 billion euros ($35.6 billion) in the three months
to the end of March from EUR28.5 billion a year ago. Analysts
expected the French insurer to report EUR30.06 billion in revenue
in the first-quarter, according to a Dow Jones poll.
Discounting the effect of foreign-exchange fluctuations, AXA
said it would have recorded a 2% increase in revenue over the
period.
Life and savings annual premium equivalent, known as APE, was up
14% 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--was 279% at the end of
March, up from 266% at the end of December.
-Write to Inti Landauro at inti.landauro@wsj.com
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