NN Group reports 1Q17 results
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
Strong operating performance; Solvency II ratio at 238%
* Operating result ongoing business of EUR 406 million, up 33.3% from 1Q16,
driven by higher results in all segments
* Net result of EUR 435 million, up 61.0% from 1Q16, reflecting the higher
operating result, higher non-operating items and a lower hedge-related loss
for Japan Closed Block VA
* Further cost savings in the Netherlands bringing the expense base down to
EUR 748 million
* Strong commercial momentum: APE of EUR 620 million, up 28.3% from 1Q16 at
constant currencies, driven by higher sales at Netherlands Life, Insurance
Europe and Japan Life; net third party inflows of EUR 2.1 billion at Asset
Management; EUR 1.1 billion of mortgage production at NN Bank
* Solvency II ratio of NN Group decreased to 238% from 241% at the end of
4Q16 primarily due to market impacts
* Holding company cash capital higher at EUR 2,977 million, reflecting the EUR
500 million senior notes issued in January and dividends received from
subsidiaries, partly offset by the acquisition of shares in Delta Lloyd in
February 2017
Statement of Lard Friese, CEO
'NN Group showed a strong performance in the first quarter of 2017, with all
segments contributing to the increase in the Group's operating result compared
with the first quarter of 2016. We continue to improve efficiency, with cost
savings in the Netherlands bringing the expense base down further. And our
balance sheet remains robust, with NN Group's Solvency II ratio at 238%.
Every day, we strive to deliver excellent service to our customers, innovate our
products, and improve our business mix, which is reflected in increased sales
this quarter. Insurance Europe presented higher life sales of 29.4% across the
region, and in Japan the COLI critical illness product, introduced in July
2016, contributed to a sales increase of 31.3%.
It was a memorable start of 2017. Over the past months, we took a next step to
strategically prepare our company for the future, and strengthen our leading
position in the Netherlands and Belgium. In April, the acquisition of 93.3% of
Delta Lloyd was complete. We announced the senior management appointments for
the combined company and launched the integration process. Preparations for the
legal merger continue. We believe the combination of Delta Lloyd with the Dutch
and Belgian activities of NN will benefit customers, by expanding our product
offering and further broadening our distribution network. It will also generate
a materially higher free cash flow available to shareholders over time through
the benefits of scale.
Our policy has always been to return excess cash to shareholders unless we can
use it for value creating opportunities. The acquisition of Delta Lloyd was an
opportunity to deploy excess cash at an expected attractive return on
investment. Our approach of disciplined capital management has not changed and
we will continue to prioritise a strong balance sheet and maintaining a robust
capital position. The pro-forma Solvency II ratio of NN Group including Delta
Lloyd is estimated at approximately 180% at the end of the first quarter. In
August we will publish the full consolidated results for the combined group for
the second quarter of the year. And we will provide a more detailed strategic
update at our Capital Markets Day on 30 November 2017.
Going forward, our focus will be on ensuring a smooth transition process and on
driving further improvement in customer experience through innovation and our
client centric approach: helping our customers to secure their financial
future.'
NN Group key figures
In EUR million 1Q17 1Q16 Change
-----------------------------------------------------------
Operating result ongoing business 406 305 33.3%
Net result 435 270 61.0%
Net operating ROE(7)21)) 9.9% 8.6%
1Q17 4Q16 Change
Solvency II ratio(1)) 238% 241%
Note: All footnotes are included on page 26
Quarterly Business Update
NN Group's robust financial position reflects the resilience of its businesses
in an environment which continues to be characterised by low interest rates and
market volatility. Our financial position provides a solid foundation for
executing the company's strategy, which is to deliver an excellent customer
experience based on transparent products and services and long-term
relationships. NN Group aims to help people secure their financial futures, and
is committed to delivering products and services that are easy to understand and
meet customers' lifetime needs.
Transparent products and services
NN Life's pension business reached a milestone with the PPI
(Premiepensioeninstelling) accumulating EUR 1 billion of assets under
management. This is the result of a partnership between NN Investment Partners,
AZL, and NN Life. NN Life's competitive position in the pension market remains
strong. The first months of 2017 showed a steady inflow of new contracts,
specifically in the area of Defined Contribution. In addition, NN Life became
the pension provider for Nutreco's employees in the Netherlands. Furthermore, on
1 September 2016, the Enhanced Premium Scheme Act (Wet verbeterde
premieregeling) came into force in the Netherlands, which makes it possible to
invest accumulated pension capital after the retirement date. NN Life launched a
new product in the first quarter of 2017, a variable annuity variant of its
pension pay-out product 'Active Pension (DIP)', in order to capture the
opportunities created by this new legislation.
Movir, which offers individual disability insurance to self-employed workers in
the Netherlands, was awarded the title of 'Best income insurer' of 2016 by
Adfiz, the association of independent financial advisors, for the sixth time in
a row. Movir scored higher than other insurers on all aspects, including
customer focus, timely claims handling and expertise of employees. Winning the
award this year was particularly encouraging, as Movir has been responsible for
the management and administration of the individual disability (AOV) portfolio
of Nationale-Nederlanden since the beginning of 2017, which required extra
effort by all involved.
Capturing growth
The fundamental need for people to protect themselves against uncertainties will
continue to drive growth in the insurance industry over the long term. NN Group
continually adapts its businesses to capture this growth potential. In the first
quarter of 2017, the sale of protection products grew 49% across Europe compared
with the same quarter in 2016, with Poland and Romania as the largest
contributors.
In the Netherlands, NN Bank grew its mortgage portfolio by EUR 0.3 billion to
EUR 13.1 billion in the first quarter of 2017. During that same period, its
customer savings grew by EUR 0.4 billion to EUR 10.6 billion. NN Bank introduced
Brickler, an application which provides better insights in the different steps a
customer has to take when buying a house. This app offers customers the
possibility to search for new homes, calculate the spending limit, and compare
different mortgage suppliers.
Multi-access distribution
NN Group serves its customers through multiple channels, comprising tied agents,
bancassurance partners, brokers and direct channels. It is our aim to achieve
profitable growth through multi-access distribution. In line with strategy, the
international businesses made further headway in the first quarter to increase
partnerships in the area of bancassurance. Nationale-Nederlanden in Poland has
built a modern and innovative IT platform for banks, which differentiates by
allowing products to be introduced within weeks. It also offers full flexibility
in tailoring stand-alone protection products, which can be adapted to the
specific needs of the banks' customers. As part of their bancassurance strategy,
Nationale-Nederlanden Spain launched a protection product in cooperation with
ING Direct Spain. The product, which is offered to individuals when digitally
contracting a consumer loan at ING, provides payment protection in cases of
unemployment, permanent disability or death. From a customer perspective, the
newly designed insurance will have a differentiated positioning in the Spanish
market by offering full protection to consumers, automated underwriting and easy
access as the process is fully digitalised.
In the first quarter 2017, bancassurance COLI sales in Japan increased by 48%,
at constant currencies, compared with the same quarter of 2016. This was driven
by the higher bank activation and the expansion of the bank distribution
network, bringing the total to 63 banking partners at the end of the first
quarter of 2017. On 3 April 2017, Sumitomo Life Insurance Company started
offering NN Life Japan's corporate-owned life insurance (COLI) products through
Sumitomo Life's sales network of approximately 30,000 agents.
The creation of dedicated teams and sharing of best practices between NN Hellas
and Piraeus Bank have intensified their collaboration. This has led to
significant sales increases through the bancassurance channel in Greece.
Effective and efficient operations
NN Group aims to make its processes as efficient and effective as possible. The
businesses in the Netherlands continue to implement efficiency initiatives, for
example the implementation of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in our central
Finance departments, as well as in our Non-life business. Building on this
experience, further roll-out in the Life business will take place to replace
repetitive, labour intensive, administrative processes. NN Life Japan also
implemented RPA for handling part of its processes in the Customer Service
Department, resulting in operation optimisation and simplification, operational
time reductions, and error reduction, along with contributing to creating a
paperless environment.
Innovation
Following the successful innovation labs in the Netherlands, NN opened two
international innovation labs 'Sparklab', the first one in Hungary and the
second one in Turkey. At least six other labs will be launched shortly. In the
Netherlands, 'Sparklab' started a test with 'Gappie', an app which enables
customers to buy on-demand car insurance when borrowing a car from family or
friends.
NN Group joined the National Blockchain Coalition (Nationale Blockchain
Coalitie) in the Netherlands as a founding partner. The coalition brings
together over twenty companies and organisations from the financial, logistics,
and energy sectors, as well as government and knowledge institutions. The aim of
the coalition is to make the Netherlands an international frontrunner in the
application of blockchain technology.
In addition to continuously innovating its own product portfolio, NN Group also
invests in fintech partnerships with third parties, for example the fast-growing
Berlin-based fintech company OptioPay GmbH. OptioPay has developed an innovative
business model that allows consumers to convert incoming payments- from
insurers, energy companies and even employers-into higher value products,
services or vouchers with a broad range of merchants and service providers. NN
is keen to support OptioPay as it expands in its home market and in new
geographies.
Other events
In April 2017, NN Group and Global Sports Communication presented the NN Running
Team, the first professional running team in the world, adding a new dimension
to running. The NN Running Team brings together the world's top long-distance
runners in a partnership with the world's best athletes, recently in Hamburg and
London.
NN Investment Partners (NN IP) expanded its Responsible Investment team, adding
significant weight to the team's primary goal to drive the further development
of responsible investing at NN IP, and to support all investment teams in their
ESG integration strategy. NN IP also developed a tagging approach that allows
for assessing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) exposure of companies.
This approach offers investors the opportunity to choose stronger exposure to
SDGs and easier opportunities for impact investing along with company engagement
on impact.
NN Group Profile
NN Group is an international insurance and asset management company, active in
18 countries, with a strong presence in a number of European countries and
Japan. With around 11,500 employees the group offers retirement services,
insurance, investments and banking to more than 15 million customers. NN Group
includes Nationale-Nederlanden, NN and NN Investment Partners. NN Group is
listed on Euronext Amsterdam (NN).
Investor conference call and webcast
Lard Friese and Delfin Rueda will host an analyst and investor conference call
to discuss the 1Q17 results at 10.00 am CET on Thursday 18 May 2017. Members of
the investment community can join the conference call at +31 20 531 5865 (NL),
+44 203 365 3210 (UK), +1 866 349 6093 (US) or follow the webcast on www.nn-
group.com.
Press call
Lard Friese and Delfin Rueda will host a press call to discuss the 1Q17 results,
which will be held at 12.00 pm CET on Thursday 18 May 2017. Journalists can join
the press call at +31 (0)20 531 5863.
Financial calendar
* Annual General Meeting: 1 June * Publication 3Q17 results: 16
2017 November 2017
* Publication 2Q17 results: 17 * Capital Markets Day: 30 November
August 2017 2017
Contact information
---------------------------------- ----------------------------------
Press enquiries Investor enquiries
Saskia Kranendonk Investor Relations
+31 62 568 3835 +31 88 663 5464
saskia.kranendonk(at)nn-group.com investor.relations(at)nn-group.com
---------------------------------- ----------------------------------
Additional information on www.nn-group.com
* NN Group 1Q17 Financial Supplement, NN Group 1Q17 Analyst Presentation
* NN Group 31 March 2017 Condensed consolidated interim accounts
* NN Group 2016 Solvency and Financial Condition Report
* Photos of NN Group executives, buildings and events are available for
download at Flickr
Important legal information
NN Group's Consolidated Annual Accounts are prepared in accordance with
International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union
("IFRS-EU") and with Part 9 of Book 2 on the Dutch Civil Code.
In preparing the financial information in this document, the same accounting
principles are applied as in the 2016 NN Group Consolidated Annual Accounts,
except as indicated in Note 1 of the 31 March 2017 Condensed consolidated
interim accounts.
All figures in this document are unaudited. Small differences are possible in
the tables due to rounding. Certain of the statements in this document are not
historical facts, including, without limitation, certain statements made of
future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on
management's current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to
differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Actual
results, performance or events may differ materially from those in such
statements due to, without limitation: (1) changes in general economic
conditions, in particular economic conditions in NN Group's core markets, (2)
changes in performance of financial markets, including developing markets, (3)
consequences of a potential (partial) break-up of the eurozone, (4) changes in
the availability of, and costs associated with, sources of liquidity as well as
conditions in the credit markets generally, (5) the frequency and severity of
insured loss events, (6) changes affecting mortality and morbidity levels and
trends, (7) changes affecting persistency levels, (8) changes affecting interest
rate levels, (9) changes affecting currency exchange rates, (10) changes in
investor, customer and policyholder behaviour, (11) changes in general
competitive factors, (12) changes in laws and regulations, (13) changes in the
policies of governments and/or regulatory authorities, (14) conclusions with
regard to accounting assumptions and methodologies, (15) changes in ownership
that could affect the future availability to us of net operating loss, net
capital and built-in loss carry forwards, (16) changes in credit and financial
strength ratings, (17) NN Group's ability to achieve projected operational
synergies and (18) the other risks and uncertainties detailed in the Risk
Factors section contained in recent public disclosures made by NN Group and/or
related to NN Group.
Any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of NN Group speak only as of
the date they are made, and, NN Group assumes no obligation to publicly update
or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information
or for any other reason.
This document does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an
offer to buy, any securities.
NN Group Press Release 1Q17:
http://hugin.info/160538/R/2105825/799304.pdf
This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: NN Group NV via GlobeNewswire
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 18.05.2017 - 07:00 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 543018
Anzahl Zeichen: 20143
contact information:
Town:
THE HAGUE
Kategorie:
Business News
Diese Pressemitteilung wurde bisher 136 mal aufgerufen.
Die Pressemitteilung mit dem Titel:
"NN Group reports 1Q17 results"
steht unter der journalistisch-redaktionellen Verantwortung von
NN Group NV (Nachricht senden)
Beachten Sie bitte die weiteren Informationen zum Haftungsauschluß (gemäß TMG - TeleMedianGesetz) und dem Datenschutz (gemäß der DSGVO).
