Connect21

20% …That is how much Ageas’ share price increased in the 3 years of our Ambition 2018 plan! Quite a nice return… and it does not even include the dividend paid. Not only did the share strongly grow, it also outperformed significantly the market. As a comparison, during the same time frame, the Stoxx Insurance and the Stoxx 50 were respectively up 12% and 8%.

Our strong performance was probably supported by the fact that we managed to deliver on our targets: combined ratio: checked / operating margin: checked for the main activity, the guaranteed products / ROE: checked / Solvency ratio: checked / dividend: checked.

No wonder Deliver is one of our new values alongside Care, Share and Dare.

It was time now, this Wednesday, during our Investor Day, to make even more demanding commitments in our new 3 year strategic plan, Connect21. This plan is all about performing in a world constantly changing, about identifying and meeting the new emerging needs. It is in fact about connecting to the future by investing for the long-term while offering attractive short-term returns.

In order to achieve this, we committed to 6 financial targets, 4 of which are an updated, sharpened and a more ambitious version of previous ones and 2 new ones:

• A NonLife combined ratio of 96%. We have regularly improved our combined ratio as reflected in the updating of our targets over time: below 100% during the Vision 2015 plan, below 97% during the Ambitions 2018 plan and 96% today.

• An operating margin of 8595 bps for the guaranteed products – an increased range from the already strong level of Ambitions 2018 – and an operating margin of 3040 bps for the unit-linked products.

• The Solvency II target is maintained at 175% but with a switch from an Insurance to a Group target, which was made possible thanks to the resolution of the legacies from the past.

• A payout ratio of at least 50% of the Group net result, compared to 40% to 50% of the Insurance net result previously.

And 2 new ones:

• A commitment to launch each year a new share buyback of at least EUR 150 million, except in case of a sizeable M&A

• A 5% to 7% earnings per share CAGR, starting from 2018.

Given the market’s reaction, the Connect21 plan has proved convincing. Ageas’ share has been sharply up since Wednesday: +1.1% on Wednesday, +1.7% on Thursday and +1.9% on Friday. While equity markets were firmly in positive territory this week, Ageas’ share managed to outperform the market by climbing 4.9%, surging above EUR 46 and closing the week at EUR 46.11.