(Bloomberg) — Axa SA (CS.PA) plans to repurchase as much as €1.2 billion of stock this year and raise its dividend by 9%, rewarding shareholders after the French insurer reported better-than-expected earnings fueled by growth in its property and life insurance businesses.
Most Read from Bloomberg
The buyback is in addition to the already-announced €3.8 billion repurchase planned after Axa completes the sale of its investment management business to BNP Paribas by the end of June, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
Underlying earnings rose 6% to €8 billion last year, just ahead of analysts’ estimates, while net income rose by 10%. Estimated pretax losses from the January wildfires in California are €100 million.
Axa said it’s on track to meet the targets in strategic plan. It aims for 6% to 8% average growth in underlying earnings per share from 2023 until 2026, and to reach an underlying return on equity of 14% to 16% for the period between 2024 and 2026.
Swiss rival Zurich Insurance Co. (ZURN.SW) announced last week net income last year rose 34% to $5.81 billion. German rival Allianz SE (ALV.DE) is scheduled to report earnings on Friday.
Axa will pay a dividend of €2.15 a share, up from the €1.98 paid last year.
Since taking over in 2016, Thomas Buberl has shifted the insurer’s focus from life insurance to property, casualty and health insurance in a bid to make Axa less sensitive to financial markets. The life insurance business model is highly dependent on fluctuations in interest rates.
On Tuesday, S&P changed its outlook for Axa to positive from stable while affirming its long-term A+ rating. “AXA Group’s capital-light growth strategy, continuous expected profit growth, and retained earnings in 2024-2026 will strengthen the group’s capitalization,” the rating agency said in a statement. The expected AXA Investment Managers sale will “also provide modest but positive contribution to AXA Group’s capital adequacy.”
Shares of Axa have risen 11% this year, in line with the performance of the Stoxx Europe 600 Insurance Index.
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
