Ageas: Regulated information - Ageas reports Full Year 2016 result

• Steady growth of Insurance net result due to solid operating performance
• Fourth quarter net result impacted by exceptional items in the UK and Asia
• Insurance Solvency II_ageas ratio above target at 182%
• Proposed gross cash dividend of EUR 2.10, including EUR 0.40 related to the Hong Kong sale

Full year 2016
Net Result	Insurance net result up 9% to EUR 821 million versus EUR 755 million General Account net result of EUR 694 million negative versus EUR 15 million Group net result at EUR 127 million versus EUR 770 million
Inflows	Group inflows (at 100%) at EUR 31.7 billion, up 6% (including 4% negative foreign exchange impact) Group inflows (Ageas's part) at EUR 14.1 billion, up 3% (including 4% negative foreign exchange impact) Life inflows up 8% to EUR 25.4 billion and Non-Life stable at EUR 6.3 billion (both at 100%)
Operating Performance	Combined ratio at 98.7% versus 96.9% Operating Margin Guaranteed at 93 bps versus 90 bps Operating Margin Unit-Linked at 25 bps versus 36 bps Life Technical Liabilities of the consolidated entities at EUR 74.5 billion and stable compared to the end of 2015
Balance Sheet	Shareholders' equity at EUR 9.7 billion or EUR 47.03 per share Insurance Solvency II ageas ratio at 182% and Group Solvency IIageas ratio at 195% General Account Total Liquid Assets at EUR 1.9 billion versus EUR 1.6 billion at the end of 2015
4th Quarter 2016
Net Result	Insurance net result down 87% to EUR 18 million versus EUR 142 million
Belgium	Strong Non-Life operating performance
UK	Impact from restructuring costs and exceptional reserves strengthening
Continental Europe	Excellent performance in both Life and Non-Life
Asia	Life net result impacted by equity impairments

All 12 month 2016 figures are compared to the 12 month 2015 figures unless otherwise stated.

Ageas CEO Bart De Smet said: "2016 has been an eventful year for Ageas marked by by the sale of Hong Kong, the acquisition of Ageas Seguros, the launch of activities in the Philippines and Vietnam, and the Fortis Settlement. A court decision to declare the settlement binding that is expected by mid-2017, would bring to a close a difficult period for the people concerned and for the Group as a whole.

At an operational level, all segments, with the exception of the UK, achieved very good results. In the UK a number of exceptional events forced the Group to take significant one-off charges for restructuring and reserve strengthening partly in anticipation of changing regulations. Unfortunately these events also prevented us from realising the combined ratio target set out as part of our Ambition 2018 strategy.

Taking into account the strong underlying operating performance and the solid balance sheet, the Ageas Board proposes to distribute a total gross cash dividend of EUR 2.10 for the 2016 performance, EUR 0.40 of which is related to the capital gain on the Hong Kong divestment "

PDf version of the full press release (http://hugin.info/134212/R/2078791/782489.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: Ageas via Globenewswire