Insurer Swiss Life posts higher than expected fee result for H1 (updated)

Swiss Life Holding AG

03/09/2024 06:24

(Adds guidance, asset management unit result and background
about European property markets; paragraphs 3-7)
       Sept 3 (Reuters) - Insurer and asset manager Swiss Life
 SLHN.S  reported half-year fee result above expectations on
Tuesday, helped by strong performances in its asset management
and French insurance businesses.
    Its fee result rose 17% to 395 million Swiss francs ($463.3
million) in the first half of the year, beating the 380 million
francs expected by four analysts on average in an AWP consensus.
    However, it left its full-year outlook unchanged and
continues to expect the 2024 fee result to come at the lower end
of its 850-900 million franc range.
    Any potential changes to the guidance would rely on the
continued normalisation of the real estate markets in Germany
and France, it said in a press release.
    Swiss Life, which manages real estate assets worth 100
billion francs across Europe, has been hit by the property
sector slump amid higher interest rates and inflated building
costs in Germany and France. 
    But the property markets have started to show some signs of
respite after the European Central Bank cut its key rates and
pointed to further policy easing. 
    Total income in the asset management unit rose 15% to 506
million francs in the January-June period, driven by higher
earnings from real estate project developments, the group said.
($1 = 0.8526 Swiss francs)

 (Reporting by Andrey Sychev in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi)
 ((andrey.sychev@thomsonreuters.com))