Axa S/Adr

Good morning, thank you for standing by and welcome to AXA 9-month 2026 Activity Indicators conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star and 1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star and 2. Please note that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker, Anu Venkataraman, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning and thank you very much for joining AXA's nine-month 2026 Activity Indicators call. Our Group C CFO, Alban de Mailly Nesle, will walk you through the highlights of the press release that we issued last night, after which we'll be ready to take your questions. With that, I hand over to Alban.

Thank you, Anu, and good morning to all of you. Thank you for joining the call. So let me begin with the key messages for the first nine months of 2026. AXA delivered a strong performance over these first nine months, sustaining the momentum from a half year, supported by the diversity of our business model, the quality of our franchise, and continued good performance across key markets. and total revenues increased by 5% to 93 billion euros with growth well balanced across our businesses. Our SO&CT ratio stood at 213% demonstrating the resilience of our balance sheet in a more volatile market environment. Let me now turn to our business performance starting with P&C. P&C revenues were up by 3% to 48.1 billion euros With a balanced contribution from price and volume. In personal lines, revenues were up 7% to 17.2 billion euros and momentum remained strong and broadly in line with the first half, supported by continued price increases across geographies. We added 2.4 million net new contracts over the period, reflecting an acceleration in customer growth. The growth rate in personal lines is calculated with Prima's contribution to nine months 25 as it had already been considered and the proportion of the business recaptured was the same as in nine months 26. So Prima contributed one billion of gross return premiums in the first nine months. This reflects both commissions paid to the MGA and the initial recapture of approximately 0.5 billion of the premiums. So 0.5 billion commissions, 0.5 billion premiums. On a standalone basis, Prima's revenues increased by 32% to 1.7 billion. Moving to commercial lines, revenues increased by 1% to 28.7 billion euros, with trends across our two sub-lines broadly consistent with those reported in the first half. In commercial insurance, excluding XXL, revenues were up by 4%. This was driven by a favorable pricing environment in France and across Europe, with overall pricing up 2%. We also delivered positive volume growth, particularly in France and international markets, reflecting the strength of our franchise and distribution capabilities. And looking ahead, we remain confident in our ability to continue growing At AXA Excel Insurance, our approach remains consistent. In a softening market, we will grow where market conditions support adequate returns, while maintaining discipline underwriting and exposure management where pricing is less attractive. Against this backdrop, AXA Excel Insurance revenues declined by 1%, with pricing also down 1% broadly in line with the trends reported in the first half. In property, while pricing is softening , margins remain attractive and above our return hurdles. In casualty, rate increases are in line with first half , we remain highly disciplined and prioritize margin over volume. In professional lines, pricing is negative but appears to be bottoming out after several years of declines and there as well we remain disciplined. Specialty comprises a number of distinct lines with different market dynamics. Overall, pricing remains broadly stable and we continue to see attractive opportunities for profitable growth in areas where Accel has deep expertise. Our strategy is unchanged. Discipline underwriting, expense management, and growth only where returns meet our hurdles. And finally, in reinsurance, revenues were down by 9%, renewal pricing declined by 4% versus 9 months 25, with pricing down 8% in property lines and stable in the rest of the business, which reflects a relatively resilient outcome in the current market environment. Consistent with our underwriting discipline, we reduced volumes where expected returns did not meet our target. Turning briefly to natural catastrophes, group experience in the first nine months was above budget. The third quarter was active in Europe with drought and several hailstorms affecting France and Switzerland where AXA has high market shares. And as a reminder, we manage NatCats, PYDs and discount benefits together with a focus on maintaining a stable overall contribution to profitability. And now we turn to life and health. So in life and health, premiums were up 7% to 44.8 billion euros. Both our short-term and long-term businesses delivered strong performance. In the long-term business, premium increased by 7%, reflecting strong sales momentum across In the short-term business, revenues also increased by 7%, primarily driven by positive price effects in health across all geographies. Net flows were strong at $6 billion in the first nine months, compared with $5.6 billion in the prior year period. Overall, the performance demonstrates the relevance of our product offering and the strength of our distribution capabilities across key markets. Let me now turn to new business metrics. New business CSM grew by 1%, supported by strong volumes in savings and good margins. This was partly offset by lower health sales in Japan amid heightened competition. In Japan, we are shifting our commercial focus from health to protection where margins are attractive and stable. As in the first half, high interest rates, notably in Japan, weighed on our new business CSM. Excluding this impact, new business CSM would have grown by 4% on a comparable basis. As a reminder, our new business metrics at 9 months are not updated for changes in financial or actuarial assumptions. Those are refreshed at half year and full year. Given the evolution of interest rates since June, particularly in Japan, we expect the full year assumption update to create further pressure on reported new business metrics. I now move to Solvency II. So we continue to operate at a high Solvency II ratio that stands at 213% at the end of September. Our ratio was down five points from the first half, mainly explained by the following. So first, one point of net capital generation, made of seven points from normalized capital generation and minus six points of accrued foreseeable dividends and annual share buybacks. And minus five points, unfavorable impacts from financial markets, reflecting increased volatility, notably on interest rates. High inflation expectations in the Eurozone, the widening of government spreads, including also minus two points impact from cross-effects. And as a reminder, the sensitivity of our solvency to OAT strength widening is minimal. To conclude, so AXA delivered a strong performance over the first nine months, combining strong growth, disciplined underwriting, and continued capital strength. We continue to leverage the strength of our franchise to drive growth in retail P&C and commercial insurance, excluding AXA-XL. Together, they grew plus 6%. At AXA-XL, we are actively managing the cycle and remain selective, prioritizing returns over volume. AXA-XL is well positioned to capitalize on structural growth opportunities and maintain attractive margins. In life and health, Strong sales momentum and net flows support the continued growth of our future earnings base. And our 213% solvency to ratio, prudent reserving, and high quality investment portfolio provide resilience in a more volatile environment. So taken together, these elements give us confidence in our ability to deliver the 2026 underlying earnings per share growth at the top end of our 6% to 8% target range. I'm now happy to answer your questions.