Swiss Life surprises with strong first half profits

The group said it was "on track" with its cost-cutting programme "Swiss Life 2015" which is aimed at saving the company between 130m and 160m francs.

In the first six months of the year, the insurer earned a better-than-expected profit of 472m francs, up significantly from the 365m francs recorded in the same period a year ago.

Net earned premiums jumped to 7.8bn francs compared with 7.3bn francs a year ago.

Analysts polled by Swiss financial newswire AWP had expected a much lower net profit of 369m francs, causing the company's share to rise by 3.0% to 178.40 francs in afternoon trade on the Swiss stock exchange.

Swiss Life managing director Bruno Pfister said the strong results also reflected successful investments and an improvement in the company's operational effectiveness.

"All market units are growing in terms of both premium income and their contribution to the group result," he said.

"Thanks to strict margin management and further improvements in the product mix, we increased the new business margin from 1.4% at the end of 2012 to 2.0% in the first half-year of this year," he said.

The company said that in Switzerland, where the group generates more than two-thirds of its revenues, it posted a premium income growth of 5.0%, while in France, which is its key market, premium volumes rose by 8.0%.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridgel