Share tips: A safe bet among insurers

Despite suffering from natural disasters and seeing its Greek debt written down, this insurer is still a must-buy, says Paul Hill.

Insurers suffered on all sides last year as sovereign bonds had to be written down, catastrophe claims (such as those from the Japanese earthquake) emptied coffers, and Europe's austerity measures cut demand for savings products. Worse, rock-bottom interest rates forced many to slash guaranteed returns on popular investment policies, exposing them to stiff competition from banks.

Axa, Europe's second-largest insurer, was no exception. It was knocked by a bigger-than-expected €387m write-down on its holdings of distressed Greek debt that's a 78% haircut. Its economic solvency ratio also dropped from 178% to 148% as of the end of December.

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Paul gained a degree in electrical engineering and went on to qualify as a chartered management accountant. He has extensive corporate finance and investment experience and is a member of the Securities Institute.

Over the past 16 years Paul has held top-level financial management and M&A roles for blue-chip companies such as O2, GKN and Unilever. He is now director of his own capital investment and consultancy firm, PMH Capital Limited.

Paul is an expert at analysing companies in new, fast-growing markets, and is an extremely shrewd stock-picker.