AXA Asia Pacific Logs Gains In Investment Earnings, Expansion Plans Under Way

Vanessa Doctor

18 February 2010

AXA Asia Pacific Holdings saw robust gains in the year to 31 December 2009, with investment earnings figuring at A$185.1 million, against investment losses of A$537.7 million ($484.9 million) in 2008.

The company, presently the subject of a takeover attempt by the National Bank of Australia, said in a statement that profit after tax and non-recurring items was A$957.9 million more than 2008 at A$679.2 million ($612.6 million), allowing it to declare a total dividend of 18.50 cents per share.

"I am very pleased with our operating performance and we have performed particularly well in the second half of 2009 with operating earnings up 17 per cent on the first half. This was attributable to the very strong sales growth in the second half in conjunction with the early steps we took in response to the global financial crisis to reduce costs," said Andrew Penn, the chief executive officer of AXA.

Hong Kong operating earnings went up 6 per cent to HK$2.03 billion and South East Asia surged 44 per cent to A$50.2 million, while India and China rose by A$10 million to A$24.5 million. Its Australian earnings were down 25 per cent for the full year to A$176 million due to a difficult market, the company said, although the value of new business rose 41 per cent to A$150.6 million.

"Notwithstanding the possible acquisition of AXA PH, management is firmly focused on continuing to drive the business forward and concentrating on maximising shareholder value. We have navigated our way through the global crisis successfully and 2010 is about accelerating our growth," Mr Penn added.

The firm said it has expansion plans in place for Hong Kong, South East Asia, India, China, Australia, and New Zealand, with a particular focus on the growing demand for wealth management services.

NAB offered to acquire AXA Asia Pacific for A$13.3 billion ($11.99 billion) in December, with AMP being the other bidder. The bidding war continues.