Belgium-based insurance group Fortis returned to profit in 2009, the year after its dramatic break-up, and announced it would be changing its name to Ageas.
The financial services group, stripped down to become a pure insurer after a state-led break-up, said in a statement today that net profit totalled €1.192 billion ($1.62 billion), from a mammoth loss of €28 billion in 2008.
The average forecast in a Reuters poll of 10 analysts was for a net profit of €1.18 billion.
Fortis's insurance businesses recorded an overall profit of €456 million, €366 million from its Belgian unit AG Insurance and €90 million from its various international insurance activities.
That compared with the average €383 million and €91 million expectations in the Reuters poll.
The life insurance benefited from an overall market recovery, while profit for its non-life business was lower year-on-year due to larger claims from key markets Belgium and Britain.
Fortis's general account unit, whose results are largely a result of marking to market financial instruments left over from Fortis's break-up, made a net profit of €736 million.
This was partly due to the sale of a 25 per cent stake in AG Insurance to BNP Paribas.
Fortis's Belgian unit AG Insurance is the market leader in Belgium and its international division has a scattering of activities, notably in Britain, Luxembourg, Portugal and east Asia, making the group among the 20 biggest European insurers.
Reuters