Ping An Insurance profit beats expectations as new sales and technology development drive growth
China’s second-largest life insurer reports a 34 per cent rise in net profit for the first half of this year
Ping An Insurance (Group), China’s second-largest life insurer, reported a 34 per cent growth in net profit for the first half of this year, beating expectations thanks to increased sales of insurance products and improved efficiency from the development of new technologies.
Net profit for the January to June period stood at 58.095 billion yuan (US$8.49 billion), or 3.26 yuan per share, up from 43.43 billion yuan in the same period a year earlier, the company said in a stock exchange filing on Tuesday.
The figure was above the consensus forecast of a 26.3 per cent rise by analysts polled by Bloomberg.
However, the value of its new business – a major indicator of growth for insurance companies, was 38.75 billion yuan, little changed from 38.67 billion yuan a year earlier.
It will pay an interim dividend of 0.62 yuan per share, up 24 per cent from a year earlier, as well as a special dividend of 0.20 yuan per share to mark the 30th anniversary of its founding.
“In the first half of 2018, the government deepened financial reforms and urged insurers to focus on the protection function. Remaining true to our original aspiration, we boosted business value and results by promoting protection products,” founder and chairman Peter Ma Mingzhe said in the statement.