Swiss Life (SLHN) stock up after announcing CHF1bn share buyback
09:53, 25 November 2021
Shares in Swiss Life were up 3.75% on Thursday morning after the life insurance company published a trading update reporting the launch of a new CHF1bn ($1.07bn, £803.7m, €954m) buyback.
The company said in the update that the new buyback will run from December 2021 to May 2023. It also reported that it is going to raise its dividend payout ratio from 50% to 60% of net income under the previous Swiss Life 2021 programme.
Moreover, it wants to increase its annual fee result to CHF850m to CHF900m by 2024 – up from the current goal of raising it from CHF600 to CHF650m, it said.
In addition, it plans to increase the cumulative cash remittance to the holding company to CHF2.8bn to CHF3bn from 2022–2024. It said it would do this through higher revenues from asset management, unit-linked products and the independent financial advisory organisations it owns.
Chief executive comments
“Swiss Life has successfully completed three consecutive Group-wide programmes since 2009. And we will also achieve or exceed our targets with the current ‘Swiss Life 2021’ programme,” Chief executive, Patrick Frost, said.
“Over the next three years, we will resolutely continue on our path and focus on deepening customer relationships, expanding our advisory organisations, operational scalability and anchoring our sustainability strategy. We will thus seize opportunities to grow profitably and substantially increase our financial targets,” he added.
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