Brussels  - Insurer Fortis, Belgium's highest-profile victim of the global credit crunch, posted a profit in the first half of the year after selling its troubled banking arm, the company said Thursday.

In a statement, the company, which is based in Brussels and Utrecht, reported group net profits of 886 million euros (1.26 billion dollars) in the first six months of 2009, down from 1.6 billion euros a year ago.

The insurance activities of Fortis, which also operates subsidiaries in Britain, France and Asia, posted a net profit of 228 million euro.

The company was forced to sell its Belgian banking assets to French bank BNP Paribas and saw its Dutch arm nationalized by the Dutch government in the wake of the financial crisis.

"The first half of 2009 was marked by the closing of the transactions with BNP Paribas, the Belgian state and Fortis Bank, representing a new start for Fortis as a pure insurance company," Chief Executive Officer Bart De Smet said in a statement.

As to the future, "we expect the market environment to remain challenging with an economic situation impacting customer behaviour across life and non-life businesses," the CEO said.(dpa)