Fortis back in profit in 2009 and unveils new name

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Belgium-based insurance group Fortis returned to profit in 2009 and resumed its dividend, a 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, gave no specific forecast, but Chief Executive Bart De Smet said: "In 2009 and until today the market environment remained unpredictable and challenging."
Fortis said in a statement on Wednesday that net profit totalled 1.192 billion euros (USD 1.62 billion), from a mammoth loss of 28 billion euros in 2008.
The average forecast in a Reuters poll of 10 analysts was for a net profit of 1.18 billion euros.
De Smet said in a video statement that Fortis had cut its exposure to Greek and Italian bonds, a source of concern for investors over recent months -- for Greece to some 3.5 billion euros from about 5 billion at the end of 2008.
Fortis's insurance businesses recorded an overall profit of 456 million euros from 6 million euros in 2008 -- 366 million euros from its Belgian unit AG Insurance and 90 million euros from its various international insurance activities.
That compared with the average 383 million euro and 91 million euro expectations in the Reuters poll.
The life insurance benefited from an overall market recovery, while profit for its non-life business more than halved due to larger household and motor insurance payouts in Belgium and more bodily injury claims in Britain.
Bank Degroof analyst Ivan Lathouders said the life performance met expectations, but non-life was hit harder than predicted. He added the 15% rise in embedded value, the value of future life earnings and net asset value, was positive.
Fortis shares were up 1.8% at 2.765 euros at 0850 GMT, against a 0.3% gain in the STOXX Europe 600 Insurance index.
Fortis will resume shareholder payouts with a dividend of 0.08 euros a share.
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 euros.
This was due to the sale of a 25% stake in AG Insurance to BNP Paribas and an increase in the value of a call option it has on BNP Paribas shares.
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.
Fortis is to underwrite motor and household insurance for Britain's biggest retailer, Tesco, and has teamed up with BNP Paribas to take a majority stake in the non-life insurance unit of Italy's UBI Banca.
It has also ended non-life in Luxembourg and activities in Russia.
Fortis was carved up by the Dutch, Belgian and Luxembourg governments in October 2008, with French bank BNP Paribas taking control of Fortis's Belgian banking arm Fortis Bank and the Fortis brand name.
The break-up left Fortis as a pure insurance player with a stake in a portfolio of toxic assets and shorn of its Dutch interests, including the activities of ABN AMRO bought in 2007 just before the credit crunch struck.
Fortis said its new name ageas combined the AG of its Belgian unit, EA for its key markets Europe and Asia and AS for "assurance", French for insurance.
Separately on Wednesday, Dutch markets regulator AFM said it had fined Fortis 576,000 euros for market manipulation and late publication of price-sensitive information in June 2008 when Fortis said its solvency was strong.