AIA Group, Asia's biggest insurer in terms of premium income, has reported a better-than-expected 54 per cent increase in its first full-year profit after its listing.
The insurer reported a net profit of US$2.7 billion for the 12 months to November, reflecting increased sales of new policies and better investment returns. Analysts had expected profit growth of about 30 per cent.
Despite the strong result, which was in line with its undertaking during its initial public offering in Hong Kong last October, the company did not declare a dividend.
'We will review our dividend policy in the interim result in July this year,' said Mark Tucker, AIA's chief executive.
AIA raised HK$159.1 billion in what was Hong Kong's largest initial public offering, breaking the US$16.1 billion record set by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for the H-share portion of its float in 2006.
AIA, established in Asia 90 years ago, was a former subsidiary of troubled US insurer American International Group (AIG,) which needed to sell its Asian arm to repay the US government after being bailed out in 2008 during the financial crisis.
The firm's listing last year, however, did not go smoothly. An IPO initially planned for the first quarter of 2010 was upset by a takeover bid from British rival Prudential. The mega US$35.5 billion deal collapsed in June.