PARIS, May 4 (Reuters) - French insurer Axa SA on Tuesday reported a 3% drop in revenue in the first quarter of the year and confirmed the 2021 guidance for its company-focused insurance unit XL which was badly hit last year by the pandemic.

Europe's second-biggest insurer behind German Allianz said revenue was down 4% in property and casualties insurance and down 4% in life insurance and savings.

Axa said in a statement that Axa XL, which provides insurance for companies, was on track to reach its 1.2 billion euros ($1.44 billion) underlying result target in 2021 after the unit posted an 1.4 billion euros loss last year.

"The price increase is very strong", Axa Chief Financial Officer Etienne Bouas-Laurent told reporters when asked about the XL unit. ($1 = 0.8321 euro) (Reporting by Matthieu Protard; editing by Jonathan Oatis)