Athene Holding to focus on profitability after Q1 profit dip
Bermuda-based Athene Holding has reported first quarter 2018 net income of $268 million, a fall of 31.8 percent from the $384 million it made in the same quarter of 2017.
Adjusted operating income for the first quarter of 2018 was $237 million, compared to adjusted operating income for the first quarter 2017 of $266 million.
“In the first quarter, Athene continued to generate best in class operating performance,” said Jim Belardi, chief executive officer of Athene. “In our Retirement Services segment, excluding notable items, we produced $247 million of adjusted operating income and generated an adjusted operating ROE of 18.2 percent.
“For the rest of 2018, our unwavering focus on profitability will allow us to increase our investment margin while generating significant organic and inorganic growth.”
Athene’s retirement services segment reported adjusted operating income of $235 million, a decrease of $40 million, or 15 percent, from the prior year. Adjusted operating income, excluding notable items, was $247 million, an increase of $22 million, or 10 percent, resulting in an adjusted operating ROE of 18.2 percent. According to the company this rise was driven by an increase in investment income of $100 million. Investment income increased primarily due to invested asset growth, $21 million of additional floating rate investment income due to higher short-term interest rates and strong alternative performance. Partially offsetting this was $10 million of drag from an elevated level of cash in the portfolio, higher other liability costs due to growth in the block of business and higher income tax expense due to higher taxable income in the current year.
Athene’s corporate segment said that in the first quarter, corporate and other adjusted operating income was $2 million, an increase of $11 million over the same period of 2017. The increase in corporate and other, excluding Germany, was $8 million driven by higher fixed and other investment income primarily related to the increase in excess capital and favorable alternative performance, partially offset by debt costs from its inaugural debt issuance in January.
