Aegon N.V. (NYSE:AEG) Q2 2022 Earnings Conference Call August 11, 2022 3:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Jan Willem Weidema - Head, IR
Lard Friese - CEO
Matt Rider - CFO
Conference Call Participants
Andrew Baker - Citi
Michele Ballatore - KBW
David Barma - BNP Exxon
Michael Huttner - Berenberg
Robin van den Broek - Mediobanca
Nasib Ahmed - UBS
Sudarshan Bhutra - Société Générale
Steven Haywood - HSBC
Operator
Good day, and welcome to the Aegon Second Quarter 2022 Results Conference Call for Analysts and Investors. Today's call is being recorded.
At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Jan Willem. Please go ahead, sir.
Jan Willem Weidema
Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining this conference call on Aegon's second quarter 2022 results. Before we start, you would appreciate it if you could take a moment to review our disclaimer on forward-looking statements, which you can find at the back of the presentation.
With me today are Aegon's CEO, Lard E. Friese; and CFO, Matt Rider. After a brief update on our results by Lard and Matt, we'll open the floor to Q&A.
Let me give the floor to Lard.
Lard Friese
Thank you, Jan Willem, and good morning, everyone.
The first half year of 2022 was challenging for investors with equity markets experiencing their worst start of the year in over five decades. Volatility remained as the war in the Ukraine continued and Central Bank's increased interest rates to curb rising inflation. Against this challenging backdrop, we performed well, a testament to the strength of our strategy.
Despite the impact from lower equity markets, our second quarter operating result was strong. This reflects the receding impact of COVID-19 and the progress we are making on our operational improvement plan. We delivered further savings and continue to build on our growth initiatives. In our strategic assets, we maintained commercial momentum, even in a challenging market environment. Aegon's net result was impacted by a onetime charge due to reinsurance rate increases in the United States. Nonetheless, we remain on course to deliver on our objective of growing returns to our stockholders.
Our balance sheet is strong with the capital positions of our three main units above their respective operating levels. Cash capital at the holding stands above the operating range. Together with the growth and free cash flow, this is a solid basis to raise the interim dividend to €0.11 per common share.