Revenues at the Irish operations of insurance giant Axa dropped by 6 per cent to €239 million in the first six months of 2007 from €254 million in the first half of 2006.
Axa said the decline in revenues reflected lower average premiums, although the number of policies increased by 2 per cent at the end of June 2007 compared with the end of 2006, from about 727,000 to 742,000.
The company did not break down the profit figures for the Republic, with earnings consolidated into its UK results.
Underlying earnings for the UK and the Republic stood at £160 million (€236.6 million) for the first half of 2007, about 3 per cent ahead of first-half 2006 levels at £156 million.
Total general insurance revenues rose by 9 per cent in the first six months of 2007 to £1.86 billion, led primarily by a strong growth in UK Health, Axa said.
However, underlying earnings in the general and health decreased from £124 million in the first half of 2006 to £83 million in the first six months of this year. Axa said the decline was brought about by two adverse weather events in the UK - storms in January and flooding in June. The flooding cost the insurer £78 million before tax, while the storms set it back a further £37 million before tax.
The impact of the two weather events in the first half of the year contributed to a deterioration in the general and health combined ratio from 96.7 per cent for the first half of 2006 to 102.4 per cent in the first half of 2007.
