THE HAGUE, Netherlands,
August 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Aegon has completed the share buyback program announced on
July 4, 2016. This program
neutralized the dilutive effect of the 2015 final dividend paid in
shares. The repurchased shares will be held as treasury shares and
will be used to cover future stock dividends.
Between July 4, 2016 and
August 12, 2016 a total of 29,258,662
common shares were repurchased, at an average price of EUR 3.5054 per share.
More detailed information about the program is available on
aegon.com/sharebuyback .
Disclaimers
Cautionary note regarding non-IFRS measures
This document includes the following non-IFRS financial
measures: underlying earnings before tax, income tax, income before
tax and market consistent value of new business. These non-IFRS
measures are calculated by consolidating on a proportionate basis
Aegon's joint ventures and associated companies. The reconciliation
of these measures, except for market consistent value of new
business, to the most comparable IFRS measure is provided in note 3
'Segment information' of Aegon's Condensed Consolidated Interim
Financial Statements. Market consistent value of new business is
not based on IFRS, which are used to report Aegon's primary
financial statements and should not be viewed as a substitute for
IFRS financial measures. Aegon may define and calculate market
consistent value of new business differently than other companies.
Aegon believes that these non-IFRS measures, together with the IFRS
information, provide meaningful information about the underlying
operating results of Aegon's business including insight into the
financial measures that senior management uses in managing the
business. In addition, return on equity is a ratio using a non-IFRS
measure and is calculated by dividing the net underlying earnings
after cost of leverage by the average shareholders' equity
excluding the preferred shares, the revaluation reserve and the
reserves related to defined benefit plans.
Local currencies and constant currency exchange
rates
This document contains certain information about Aegon's
results, financial condition and revenue generating investments
presented in USD for the Americas and Asia, and in GBP for the United Kingdom, because those businesses
operate and are managed primarily in those currencies. Certain
comparative information presented on a constant currency basis
eliminates the effects of changes in currency exchange rates. None
of this information is a substitute for or superior to financial
information about Aegon presented in EUR, which is the currency of
Aegon's primary financial statements.
Forward-looking statements
The statements contained in this document that are not
historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the
US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The following
are words that identify such forward-looking statements: aim,
believe, estimate, target, intend, may, expect, anticipate,
predict, project, counting on, plan, continue, want, forecast,
goal, should, would, is confident, will, and similar expressions as
they relate to Aegon. These statements are not guarantees of future
performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that
are difficult to predict. Aegon undertakes no obligation to
publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. Readers
are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements, which merely reflect company expectations at the time
of writing. Actual results may differ materially from expectations
conveyed in forward-looking statements due to changes caused by
various risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties
include but are not limited to the following:
- Changes in general economic conditions, particularly in
the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom;
- Changes in the performance of financial markets, including
emerging markets, such as with regard to:
-- The frequency and severity of defaults by issuers in
Aegon's fixed income investment portfolios;
-- The effects of corporate bankruptcies and/or accounting
restatements on the financial markets and the resulting decline in
the value of equity and debt securities Aegon holds; and
-- The effects of declining creditworthiness of certain
private sector securities and the resulting decline in the value of
sovereign exposure that Aegon holds;
- Changes in the performance of Aegon's investment portfolio and
decline in ratings of Aegon's counterparties;
- Consequences of a potential (partial) break-up of the
euro;
- Consequences of the anticipated exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union;
- The frequency and severity of insured loss events;
- Changes affecting longevity, mortality, morbidity, persistence
and other factors that may impact the profitability of Aegon's
insurance products;
- Reinsurers to whom Aegon has ceded significant underwriting
risks may fail to meet their obligations;
- Changes affecting interest rate levels and continuing low or
rapidly changing interest rate levels;
- Changes affecting currency exchange rates, in particular the
EUR/USD and EUR/GBP exchange rates;
- Changes in the availability of, and costs associated with,
liquidity sources such as bank and capital markets funding, as well
as conditions in the credit markets in general such as changes in
borrower and counterparty creditworthiness;
- Increasing levels of competition in the United States, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and emerging markets;
- Changes in laws and regulations, particularly those affecting
Aegon's operations' ability to hire and retain key personnel,
taxation of Aegon companies, the products Aegon sells, and the
attractiveness of certain products to its consumers;
- Regulatory changes relating to the pensions, investment, and
insurance industries in the jurisdictions in which Aegon
operates;
- Standard setting initiatives of supranational standard setting
bodies such as the Financial Stability Board and the International
Association of Insurance Supervisors or changes to such standards
that may have an impact on regional (such as EU), national or US
federal or state level financial regulation or the application
thereof to Aegon, including the designation of Aegon by the
Financial Stability Board as a Global Systemically Important
Insurer (G-SII);
- Changes in customer behavior and public opinion in general
related to, among other things, the type of products also Aegon
sells, including legal, regulatory or commercial necessity to meet
changing customer expectations;
- Acts of God, acts of terrorism, acts of war and pandemics;
- Changes in the policies of central banks and/or
governments;
- Lowering of one or more of Aegon's debt ratings issued by
recognized rating organizations and the adverse impact such action
may have on Aegon's ability to raise capital and on its liquidity
and financial condition;
- Lowering of one or more of insurer financial strength ratings
of Aegon's insurance subsidiaries and the adverse impact such
action may have on the premium writings, policy retention,
profitability and liquidity of its insurance subsidiaries;
- The effect of the European Union's Solvency II requirements and
other regulations in other jurisdictions affecting the capital
Aegon is required to maintain;
- Litigation or regulatory action that could require Aegon to pay
significant damages or change the way Aegon does business;
- As Aegon's operations support complex transactions and are
highly dependent on the proper functioning of information
technology, a computer system failure or security breach may
disrupt Aegon's business, damage its reputation and adversely
affect its results of operations, financial condition and cash
flows;
- Customer responsiveness to both new products and distribution
channels;
- Competitive, legal, regulatory, or tax changes that affect
profitability, the distribution cost of or demand for Aegon's
products;
- Changes in accounting regulations and policies or a change by
Aegon in applying such regulations and policies, voluntarily or
otherwise, which may affect Aegon's reported results and
shareholders' equity;
- Aegon's projected results are highly sensitive to complex
mathematical models of financial markets, mortality, longevity, and
other dynamic systems subject to shocks and unpredictable
volatility. Should assumptions to these models later prove
incorrect, or should errors in those models escape the controls in
place to detect them, future performance will vary from projected
results. The impact of acquisitions and divestitures,
restructurings, product withdrawals and other unusual items,
including Aegon's ability to integrate acquisitions and to obtain
the anticipated results and synergies from acquisitions;
- Catastrophic events, either manmade or by nature, could result
in material losses and significantly interrupt Aegon's business;
and
- Aegon's failure to achieve anticipated levels of earnings or
operational efficiencies as well as other cost saving and excess
capital and leverage ratio management initiatives.
Further details of potential risks and uncertainties affecting
Aegon are described in its filings with the Netherlands Authority
for the Financial Markets and the US Securities and Exchange
Commission, including the Annual Report. These forward-looking
statements speak only as of the date of this document. Except as
required by any applicable law or regulation, Aegon expressly
disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any
updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained
herein to reflect any change in Aegon's expectations with regard
thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on
which any such statement is based.
Aegon's roots go back more than 170 years - to the first half of
the nineteenth century. Since then, Aegon has grown into an
international company, with businesses in more than 20 countries in
the Americas, Europe and
Asia. Today, Aegon is one of the
world's leading financial services organizations, providing life
insurance, pensions and asset management. Aegon's purpose is to
help people achieve a lifetime of financial security. More
information: aegon.com.
Media relations
Debora de Laaf
+31 (0) 70 344 8730
gcc@aegon.com
Investor relations
Willem van den Berg
+31 (0) 70 344 8405
ir@aegon.com