Dutch insurer Aegon reports loss, to issue sharesDutch insurer An individual or company who, through a contractual agreement, undertakes to compensate specified losses, liability, or damages incurred by another individual. An insurer is frequently an insurance company and is also known as an underwriter. Aegon AEGON N.V. (Euronext: AGN, NYSE: AEG) is one of the world’s leading insurance companies ranked by market capitalization and assets. AEGON’s head office is in The Hague, the Netherlands. At the end of 2004, AEGON companies employed about 29,000 people worldwide. reported a second-quarter loss of 161 million euros (229 million dollars) on Thursday Thursday: see week. and said it would issue up to one billion euros in shares to repay part of a state investment. "Aegon intends to use the proceeds of the equity issue to repay up to 1 billion euros of the 3 billion euros of core capital obtained last year from its largest shareholder, Vereniging Aegon, funded by the Dutch State." This amounted to up to 10 percent of the company's total issued shares. "The decision to repay by December 1, 2009, is conditional on Aegon?s capital position and the outlook for the economy and financial markets not deteriorating de·te·ri·o·rate v. de·te·ri·o·rat·ed, de·te·ri·o·rat·ing, de·te·ri·o·rates v.tr. To diminish or impair in quality, character, or value: materially," said an Aegon statement. It also required the consent of the Dutch central bank. "It has been our intention to repay the three billion euros to the Dutch government at the earliest opportunity, provided it is both feasible and responsible to do so," the statement quoted Aegon chief executive officer Alex Wynaendts as saying. The insurer's second-quarter outcome was down from a net profit of 276 million euros in the same period of last year, mainly owing to owing to prep. Because of; on account of: I couldn't attend, owing to illness. owing to prep → debido a, por causa de a loss of 385 million euros incurred through the sale of its Taiwanese insurance activities. The results were worse than forecast by analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires Dow Jones Newswires is the real-time financial news organization owned by Dow Jones. Founded in 1882, its primary competitors are Bloomberg L.P. and Reuters. The company reports more than 420,000 subscribers -- including brokers, traders, analysts and fund managers -- as of July , who had expected a net loss of 35.1 million euros for the quarter. Aegon also reported impairments of 393 million euros, about half of which from the value of US housing market assets. "Because of uncertain economic conditions, Aegon still expects an elevated level of asset impairments in its investment portfolio in 2009 compared with its long-term Long-term Three or more years. In the context of accounting, more than 1 year. long-term 1. Of or relating to a gain or loss in the value of a security that has been held over a specific length of time. Compare short-term. assumptions," said the statement. Underlying earnings before tax amounted to 404 million euros, 32 percent lower than a year ago and less than the 459 million euros predicted by analysts. The company reported new life policy sales to the tune of 469 million euros, and said it had freed up 1.6 billion euros in capital in the first half of the year. It had total deposits of 5.6 billion euros and was "well on track" to achieve a planned 150 million euro cost reduction for the year. Aegon said it would declare no interim dividend for 2009. 
|
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion