The combined business is leading in various market segments, and a.s.r. sees ample opportunities for profitable growth and to create sustainable value for all stakeholders. a.s.r. is well-positioned to benefit from the structural pension market developments and continues to pursue profitable growth in P&C and Disability, maintaining a strong combined ratio and underwriting performance. Furthermore, a.s.r. aims to supplement organic growth with strategic bolt-on acquisitions to add scale and skills. This is reflected in ambitious group and business targets.

This metric is based on the Solvency II framework and represents the solvency position of a.s.r. The Solvency II ratio is an integral part of a.s.r.'s Solvency II management ladder. This ladder represents different levels of solvency that is required for paying dividends (>140%), being entrepreneurial (>160%) in terms of organic and inorganic growth and re-risking, and considering additional capital return to shareholders (>175%).

The Solvency II ratio increased to 198% (31 December 2023: 176%). This reflects a strong contribution from the OCC (19%-points) and the sale of Knab (17%-points), and more than offsets the impact of capital distributions (-12%-points) and market and operational developments (-2%-points).

The Organic capital creation (OCC) is an operating profit measure (after tax) within the Solvency II framework. The OCC reflects three key components: business capital generation, finance capital generation and net SCR impact.

OCC increased by € 319 million to € 1,193 million (2023: € 874 million), primarily driven by the additional six months’ contribution from Aegon NL, growth of the business, realisation of cost synergies and impact from re-risking of the investment portfolio.

This metric reflects the return on equity within the IFRS framework: it divides the IFRS operating result by the average adjusted IFRS equity over the period.

Capital return²

Total capital return comprises dividends and share buybacks.

a.s.r. strives to pay annual dividend that creates sustainable long-term value for its shareholders. From 2022 onwards, a.s.r.’s Dividend Policy offers a progressive dividend to shareholders. This dividend is determined discretionally and not tied directly to a single financial performance metric. Following the announcement of the Aegon NL transaction in 2022 a.s.r. announced that it intends to pay a progressive dividend that would grow ‘mid-to-high’ single digit annually until (and including) 2025. At the Capital Markets Day on 27 June 2024 a.s.r. announced that the period will be extended until 2026.

a.s.r. proposes a final dividend for 2024 of € 1.96 per share, bringing the total dividend (including interim dividend of € 1.16 per share) to € 3.12 per share, an 8.0% increase versus 2023 (€ 2.89 per share).

The projected developments of our OCC in combination with a robust balance sheet enable the resumption of supplementary capital distribution to shareholders. Alongside a progressive dividend a.s.r. intends to provide an attractive capital return in the years ahead, a.s.r. also intends to allocate € 525 million to share buybacks over the plan period (€ 125 million over 2024, € 175 million over 2025 and € 225 million over 2026).

The share buyback refers to the € 100 million share buyback following the completion of the sale of Knab, executed in 2024. The share buyback of € 125 million announced on 19 February, 2025 (in line with the medium-term targets as presented at the 2024 Capital Markets Day) will be executed in the first half of 2025 and deducted from HY 2025 Solvency II ratio.

Non-life combined ratio and revenue growth

The combination of these targets reflect a.s.r.'s aim for profitable growth in P&C and Disability, pairing a strong combined ratio with premium growth.

The organic growth in P&C and Disability amounted to 5.1%, at the upper end of the 3-5% target range. In P&C, organic growth was driven by price increases to mitigate claims inflation as well as volume growth. In Disability, organic growth reflects higher premiums due to link with higher wages as well as price increases.

Pension

• ¹ For 2024, € 1.6 billion is still formally to be approved by the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank - DNB).

a.s.r. aims to acquire € 8 billion of assets under management related from corporate pension funds in the period 2024 – 2027. Pension buy-outs amounted to € 69 million Assets under Management (AuM) in 2024.

Pension DC inflow and Annuities

Pension DC inflow increased to € 2.8 billion (2023: € 2.1 billion). The annuity inflow increased to € 581 million. Both increases are mostly related to the additional six months' contribution of Aegon NL and organic growth.

As part of the Life segment, a.s.r. expects to benefit from the pension reform in the Netherlands and grow in DC pensions and annuities. Growth in the pension DC business is measured by inflow of DC products, where a.s.r. targets € 8 billion of DC inflow cumulatively in the plan period 2024 – 2026. For annuities a.s.r. targets € 1.8 billion of inflow cumulatively in the plan period 2024 – 2026.

Fee-based business operating result

The operating result of the fee-based businesses comprise of the result from segment Asset Management and segment Distribution & Services.

The operating result of the fee-based businesses increased by € 39 million to € 150 million (2023: € 111 million).

Cost synergies

At the announcement of the Aegon NL transaction at 27 October 2022, an overall run-rate cost synergy target of € 185 million for the combined companies was announced. This was raised one year later at an Investor Update on 30 November 2023 to € 215 million, after further detailing the integration plan.

• ¹Targets are based on the assumption of normal (financial) markets, environmental and economic conditions and no material regulatory changes.
• ²In general, a.s.r. expects not to pay cash dividends if the SII ratio falls below 140%. For SBB, the Solvency II ratio needs to be at least 175% with sufficient OCC to fund capital distributions and no alternative deployment of capital delivering superior returns, and to be decided annually upon discretion by the Management Board.