Distribution of company announcements to the professional platforms, finance portals and syndication of important corporate news to a wide variety of news aggregators and financial news systems.
FORTIS (PINKSHEETS:FORSY) Fortis's first half year net profit of EUR 1,638 million Net profit up 3% in second quarter 2008 to EUR 830 million, but environment is becoming more difficult
* Fortis first half year 2008 net profit of EUR 1,638 million, down 41% compared to a very strong first half of 2007. Excluding EUR 591 million net of tax impact of credit market turmoil, net profit decreased by 21%
* First half year 2008 Fortis Banking - Net profit of EUR 1,185 million. This is after EUR 409 million net of tax impact of credit market turmoil - Net profit, excluding impact of credit market turmoil, was 24% lower year-on-year mainly due to lower capital gains and an increase in impairments on loans - Reported total income 6% up. Excluding treasury and financial markets results and capital gains, total income increased by 4% - Total expenses 4% higher. Excluding integration costs and consolidation of ABN AMRO Asset Management, total expenses were slightly down
* First half year 2008 Fortis Insurance - First half year net profit of EUR 642 million. This is after EUR 182 million net of tax impact of credit market turmoil - Net profit, excluding net of tax impact credit market turmoil, 8% higher year-on-year. Windstorm Kyrill and floods impacted results in 2007 - Stable inflow at Life, Non-Life gross written premiums increased by 5% - Operating costs up 3%, mainly driven by growth initiatives and inclusion of acquired Fortis Insurance Company Asia
* First half year 2008 Acquired ABN AMRO businesses - Pro-forma net profit of the acquired ABN AMRO businesses amounted to EUR 614 million - ABN AMRO Asset Management transferred and consolidated by Fortis
* Second quarter net profit of EUR 830 million, up 3% on first quarter. This is after EUR 362 million net of tax impact of credit market turmoil. Excluding the net of tax impact of credit market turmoil: - Net profit Fortis up 15% compared to first quarter - Net profit of the Bank largely unchanged - Net profit of Insurance higher due to better technical results
Fortis core equity stood at EUR 24.6 billion, well above Fortis target capital level of EUR 20.6 billion. Fortis Bank Core tier 1 ratio of 7.4% after consolidation of ABN AMRO Asset Management compared to a target of 6.0%. Fortis Insurance's core solvency ratio of 196.1% clearly exceeded the target of 175% of minimum regulatory requirement.
