Ping An’s profit up 15pc in 2016 from one-off gain, more insurance sales

Ping An Insurance, China’s largest insurer in terms of market value, reported a better-than-expected 15 per cent rise in net profit in 2016 on sales of more policies and a one-off gain from restructuring.

Net profit last year reached 62.4 billion yuan (US$9.1 billion), or 3.5 yuan per share, up from 54.2 billion yuan in 2015.

The results beat a consensus forecast of 11.7 per cent growth by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, but was still below 2015 when the insurer posted a 38 per cent year on year growth in profits.

The earnings last year include a one-off 9.5 billion yuan gain from internal restructuring. Excluding this, Ping An’s net profit in 2016 would have dipped 2 per cent to 52.9 billion yuan.

In May, Ping An Insurance integrated micro-financing platform Puhui Financial and institution-focused Shenzhen Qianhai Financial Asset Exchange (QEX) into Lufax, China’s largest peer-to-peer lending platform, and booked a 9.5 billion yuan gain. This was aimed at streamlining the group’s online financing business, with brokers believing it was to prepare Lufax for an initial public offering.

Ping An shares fell 2 per cent to close at HK$43.25 on Wednesday, compared with a 1.1 per cent fall in the benchmark Hang Seng index.