Europe’s second-biggest insurance company posted disappointing earnings for the first six months of 2012 but the company’s growth prospects were stable , Henri de Castries, chief executive and chairman of AXA, told CNBC.

After posting a 36 percent drop in profits to 2.59 billion euros ($3.15 billion) from 4.01 billion euros in the same period a year ago. De Castries said AXA'sperformance was stable against a backdrop of economic volatility in Europe , despite the company's shares being 3.4 percent down this year, bucking the trend across the general European insurance sector which has risen 8 percent.

“We think it’s a solid set of earnings because in an environment that is much more difficult than it was last year, our revenues are growing, and if you leave aside the exceptionals, the earnings are stable.”

De Castries added that revenues were growing in certain sectors such as property, casualty and health and protection insurance (up 4 percent) and were stable in others such as life and savings insurance — despite the company only reporting a 1 percent revenue increase in these areas.

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