Swiss Life's positive fee result not enough to hold up highly valued stock

By Tristan Veyet and Paolo Laudani

(Reuters) -Insurer Swiss Life posted a higher fee result for 2024 on Friday, boosted by strong performance of its asset management business, but its shares fell in early trading weighed down by their already high price.

"Swiss Life has delivered solid results," analysts at Vontobel wrote, but stuck to their "hold" recommendation for the stock partly due to its high valuation compared to European and Swiss peers.

Swiss Life's shares were down 5.8% by 0921 GMT, among worst performers on Europe's benchmark STOXX 600 index and on track for their biggest one-day drop since November 2023. They had gained 12.5% year-to-date as of Thursday's close.

"The company needs to beat expectations more strongly, in our view," the Vontobel analysts said.

Switzerland's largest life insurance provider reported a net fee result of 875 million Swiss francs ($990.5 million) for the year, compared with a result of 658 million francs in 2023.

Swiss Life, a major owner of real estate in Europe, said it recorded a fee income of 541 million francs in France and 821 million francs in Germany. The two countries together contributed to roughly 56% of its total fee income in 2024.

The company said it would pay out a dividend of 35 francs per share for the 2024 financial year, matching an LSEG consensus estimate.

($1=0.8834 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Tristan Veyet and Paolo Laudani in Gdansk; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Milla Nissi)