Chinese insurance giant Ping An’s profit climbs 36% on policy sales, investment gains
Earnings beat analysts’ estimates, with performance mainly driven by increase of new life policies and investment gains
Ping An Insurance (Group), China’s largest insurer by market value, reported a 36 per cent increase in interim profit, driven by stronger policy sales and investment gains, according to a stock exchange filing on Thursday.
First-half net profit hit 92.59 billion yuan (US$13.78 billion) for the six months ended June 30, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of 84.45 billion yuan.
The primary drivers of the performance were an increase in the sale of new policies and greater investment income, the company said. Ping An’s insurance funds investment portfolio grew 1.9 per cent in the first six months to 6.61 trillion yuan as of June 30, with a 4.8 per cent average net investment yield. The group’s asset management net profit jumped 209.4 per cent to 9.66 billion yuan in the first half.
New business value (NBV) in the life and health insurance divisions – a key indicator of future earnings growth – rose 11.2 per cent to 24.85 billion yuan.