Profit rise lifts shares of Ping An Insurance
Print Edition
SHARES of Ping An Insurance (Group) Co, China’s second largest insurer by market value, jumped in both Shanghai and Hong Kong trading yesterday after the company said its annual profit soared nearly 40 percent last year.
The Shenzhen-based company rose 3.54 percent to close at 78.41 yuan (US$12.64) in Shanghai while its Hong Kong-listed shares rose to the highest in over four years, up 4.41 percent to HK$92.40 (US$11.91) yesterday. Their closing prices outperformed the respective local stock index yesterday.
The insurer’s net profit rose 39.5 percent from a year earlier to 39.3 billion yuan in 2014, Ping An said in a filing to the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges after the market closed on Thursday. The profit reached its highest level, it added.
Investment gains
Analysts said the profit increase was also because Chinese insurers are able to book gains in their investment portfolios as profits. A 53-percent jump in the Shanghai Composite Index last year boosted the value of insurers’ equity holdings.
The company’s life insurance business, a key measure of an insurer’s profitability, accounted for 39.8 percent of the overall profit. The value of new life insurance sales jumped 20.9 percent year on year, according to the annual report.
However, Ping An’s banking business posted a 30-percent surge in net profit to 19.8 billion yuan to overtake the life insurance business to be the biggest segment in the group.
Separately, the insurer said it will pay a cash dividend of 0.5 yuan per share and issue 9.14 billion bonus shares on a 10-for-10 basis.
Meanwhile, Shanghai stocks gained 0.98 percent to close at 3,617.32 points yesterday.
Investor sentiment was boosted after Deng Ge, a spokesman with the China Securities Regulatory Commission, yesterday said the regulator is encouraging securities firms to further develop their user interface on securities-trading platforms to allow easier access for investors via computers, smartphones, tablets and smart TVs.
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