Italy's top insurer Assicurazioni Generali said on Tuesday it beat estimates with its 2022 results, posting its best operating profit ever as higher interest rates boosted the life insurance business.

Net operating profit, the figure most closely watched by the market, grew 11.2% to 6.5 billion euros ($6.95 billion), above an analysts' consensus provided by the company of 6.19 billion euros.

Net profit came in at 2.91 billion euros, up 2.3% from 2021, despite a negative impact from Russian investments of 154 million euros. The profit was above an analysts' consensus of 2.81 billion euros.

"We are on track to achieve the targets and ambitions of our strategic plan, delivering sustainable growth to create value for all our stakeholders, even in a challenging geopolitical and economic context", Chief Executive Philippe Donnet said in a statement. ($1 = 0.9351 euros) (Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro; editing by Alvise Armellini)