AXA Earnings: Net Income up 11% to $8.55 Billion; Conference Call Today

France’s AXA Group reported strong results for 2007. The earnings release cited the growth in underlying earnings up 27 percent to €4.963 billion [$7.5 billion] (up 15 percent on a comparable basis). Adjusted earnings up 22 percent to €6.138 billion [$9.26 billion] (up 14 percent on a comparable basis). Net income up 11 percent to €5.666 billion [$8.55 billion] (up 7 percent on a comparable basis).

The Group also announced that, following the review of the earnings results by the Management Board, longtime Chairman Claude Bébéar would not seek a further term on the Board (see related article).

“2007 was another year of solid performance, with underlying earnings per share growth outpacing our Ambition 2012 target” commented Henri de Castries, Chairman of AXA’s Management Board. “The reported numbers reflect the combination of a strong organic growth in all our business lines, the successful integration of Winterthur and confirm that the strength of our balance sheet is not affected by the subprime crisis.”

He added that even in the context of a “less favorable macroeconomic environment since the beginning of the year, AXA should achieve positive revenue and underlying earnings growth in 2008.”

The full report and additional commentary is available on the Group’s web site at: www.axa.com

AXA held an earnings conference early this morning in Paris. It will also hold an earnings conference later today, February 28, in London. The details of that conference call are as follows:
The conference will be accessible through a conference call in listen-only mode. It will begin at 3:30 p.m. London time (4:30 p.m. Paris time, 10:30 a.m. New York time).
The access numbers are:
France: +33 (0) 1 72 28 08 88
UK: +44 (0) 161 601 8920
US: +1 866 793 42 80

Replay will be available on the following day only. Numbers are +33 1 70 99 35 29 for France; +44 207 031 4064 for the UK and +1 866 828 2261 for the U.S.
Access code: 214416#.

Source: AXA Group