Dutch insurance giant Aegon has reported a slump in revenues at its Irish and British operations to €58 million for the first half of 2003 from €93 million.

The group, which employs 20 at its Scottish Equitable Operations in Dublin's IFSC, blamed lower earnings from management and fund fees caused by the equities market slump, and lower indirect yield and investment income.

It declined to break down the Irish division's performance.

Unveiling results for the first half of the year, the company dismissed rumours it is poised to sell Scottish Equitable.

"We remain committed to Scottish Equitable. . . We have had no discussions on selling it," said chief executive Mr Don Shepard.

Overall earnings were up 13 per cent to €859 million from €763 million for the first six months of 2002.

The group, which makes about two-thirds of its profit in the United States, said the rise in income, in large part, reflected the year-ago figure's devastation by enormous bond default charges.

Aegon, like its rivals, had been battered in recent quarters by persistently weak markets that eroded the value of its investments and slammed profits.

The group, once a byword for solid earnings growth, issued its first-ever profit warning last year, but analysts said its future appeared to be looking brighter, spurring the surge in its stock price over the past month.

Aegon, which is disposing of non-core assets, announced on Tuesday a long-awaited €4.7 billion sale of most of Transamerica Finance Corp, its commercial lending business, to General Electric.

Aegon said it would use the proceeds to cut its debt.

The company's decision to pay an interim dividend of €0.20 per share was also welcomed.