Siemens to Sell Unit to Cerner; Mixed Results from Hannover RE, ING

Nigel Thomas
06 Aug, 2014
New York City

Ageas net plunged 93% to

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Ageas net plunged 93% to €31 million and sell Ageas Protect to American International Group for €228 million. Hannover net climbed 5% to €444 million. ING Groep net surged 20% to €1.07 billion. Siemens plans to sell its hospital IT business to Cerner for $1.3 billion.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index dropped 1% or 65.39 to 6,617.09 and in Frankfurt the DAX index declined 1.1% or 98.09 to 9,091.65.

In Paris, CAC 40 index slumped 1.1% or 45.86 to 4,187.02.

Ageas SA climbed 3.3% to €26.70 after the Belgium-based insurance company said gross written premium in the first-half ending in June soared 8.2% to €7.01 billion from €6.48 billion a year ago period.

Net income in the period plunged 93.5% from a year ago to €30.8 million compared to €471.6 million and diluted earnings per share increased to €0.14 from €2.05.

Ageas agreed to divest its Ageas Protect Ltd business to the U.S.-based American International Group Inc for a total consideration of €228 million or £181 million and the transaction is expected to complete by the end of the year.

Hannover Rueck SE declined 4% to €60.71 after the Germany-based reinsurance company said gross written premium in the first-half ending in June dropped 2.2% to €7.06 billion from €7.23 billion a year ago period.

Net income in the period climbed 4.9% from a year ago to €444.4 million compared to €423.5 million and earnings per share increased to €3.69 from €3.51.

ING Groep N.V gained 1.1% to €9.77 after the Netherland-based banking and life insurance group reported total revenue in the second-quarter ending in June climbed 6.3% to €6.69 billion from €6.29 billion a year ago period.

Net profit in the quarter surged 19.5% from a year earlier to €1.07 billion compared to €895 million.

Legal & General Group Plc slid 0.3% to 231 pence after the U.K.-based savings and investment manager reported total revenue in the first-half ending in June rose 0.6% to £19.18 billion from £19.07 billion a year ago period.

Profit in the period climbed 9.1% from a year ago to £501 million compared to £459 million and diluted earnings per share jumped to 8.42 pence from 7.72 pence.

The insurer said assets under management in the period jumped 7% to £465.1 billion from a year earlier.

Siemens AG increased 2.7% to €23.84 after the Germany-based technology company plans to sell its hospital IT business to the U.S.-based Cerner Corp, a healthcare IT services provider for $1.3 billion in cash.

Siemens said the hospital information system segment has annual sales of about $1.2 billion and nearly 5,000 client facilities in more than 40 countries.

The transaction is expected to close in the first-quarter of 2015.