French insurance giant AXA said Wednesday its net income fell 29 percent in the first half of this year over the same period in 2009.

AXA's net income stood at 944 million euros (1.242 billion U.S. dollars) in the first six months, following a 1.478 billion euros (1.94 billion dollars) exceptional provision for loss related to the sale of part of its UK Life operations, AXA said in its financial report.

Excluding the exceptional loss, the net income would jump 81 percent to 2.422 billion euros (3.19 billion dollars) for the January-June period, boosted by higher adjusted earnings and favorable asset valuation, the company said.

An 11-percent increase in asset management revenue drove total revenues to 49.925 billion euros (65.69 billion dollars) from 48.414 billion euros (63.70 billion dollars).

At the same time, investment revenues dropped 6 percent to 1.059 billion euros (1.39 billion dollars) due to a decrease in investment yields, the report said.