Axa slips into loss

[jdaw1]

Axa, Europe’s second-largest insurance group, reported its first interim loss for seven years on Thursday, slashed its 2008 dividend and prepared for a possible increase in capital.

The French insurer is to ask shareholders to approve the issue of up to €2bn ($2.5bn) in preference shares, which Henri de Castries, chief executive, insisted was ‟an insurance policy” that would only be used as a last resort to bolster the balance sheet.

‟The macroeconomic picture is unclear. Our business is to manage risks, so we want a tool kit with all the tools in the box in case we need them. It doesn’t mean we will do it. At this stage, we don’t think we need it,” he said.

It would not surprise me if Axa were to attempt to sell non-core assets. Even if not now, starting later this year.

[DRT]

Perhaps if we all club together we can buy a nice little Quinta that lies a couple of miles to the east of Pinhao?

[Alex Bridgeman]

I think, perhaps, we could face some competition from a management buy-out team