Operating result

The Holding & Other segment (including eliminations) operating result decreased by € 61 million to € -268 million. The decrease is mainly the result of an increase in debt expenses, higher indirect costs and the impact from the inclusion of business activities that were previously labelled as a start-up.

The increase in debt expenses (€ 32 million) was mainly the result of the € 600 million green senior bond issued in December 2023, with a fixed rated coupon of 3.625%, and the € 500 million perpetual restricted Tier 1 security issued in March 2024, with a fixed rated coupon of 6.625%, which has been partly offset by the redemption of a Perpetual Tier 2 security, with a fixed rated coupon of 5%, in two parts during 2024 (€ 380 million in March and € 120 million in September).

Operating expenses

Operating expenses increased by € 4 million to € -9 million (2023: € -13 million). Holding operating expenses before eliminations increased mainly due to higher indirect costs and the negative impact from the inclusion of business activities that were previously labelled as a start-up, and were more than offset by the impact from eliminations related to intercompany investment operating expenses.

Expenses for non-ordinary activities, classified as incidental items and therefore not included in operating expenses, increased by € 49 million to € 150 million. This increase mainly relates to the integration of Aegon NL, partly offset by a decrease in project costs related to IFRS 17/9.

Result before tax

The result before tax decreased by € 183 million to € -280 million (2023: € -96 million), reflecting lower operating result and the impact of the bargain purchase of € 153 million on the Aegon NL transaction in 2023 as part of non-investment related incidentals. Investment related incidental items amount to € -154 million (2023: € 102 million) and mainly relate to the elimination of the investment result on non-qualifying plan assets from a.s.r.’s own pension scheme.