First Half Results Cause Swiss Life Share Tumble

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

05 September 2008

Leading Swiss life insurer, Swiss Life recently revealed that its first half profits have been negatively affected by the "challenging market environment".

The company's announcement resulted in the share price closing at SFr202.40 on Thursday - down 8.84%, which is the worst daily decline since 2004.

Although Swiss Life reported net profits so far this year of CHF1,637mn -- which represented an increase of 158% compared with the same period last year -- the company said this was achieved only due to extraordinary sales efforts.

Bruno Pfister, Group CEO, commented on the company's 2008 half-year results that:

“We consistently advanced the implementation of our strategy in a challenging market environment. Despite the unfavourable market conditions, we successfully maintained our growth momentum. Our product initiatives are beginning to show results and we have strengthened our distribution capabilities."

"The turbulence on the financial markets has, however, rendered it impossible for us to achieve our financial targets this year. We expect a profit for 2008 of between CHF1.8 and 1.9bn.”

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