Prudential surged to a record in London trading after the UK's biggest insurer by market value reported first-half profit that beat analyst estimates, buoyed by rising sales in Asia and a jump in US earnings.
Operating profit climbed 22 per cent to £1.42 billion (€1.65 billion) in the first six months of the year, beating the £1.3 billion estimate of 17 analysts provided by the company, the London-based insurer said in a statement today.
The stock surged to the highest since at least 1988 as Prudential raised its dividend 16 per cent to 9.73 pence a share.
Tidjane Thiam, who became chief executive officer in October 2009, has sought to double profit from Asia from 2009 levels by the end of this year by focusing on selling life and health insurance in countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.
Operating profit from the region rose 18 per cent in the first half, with seven of the insurer’s units in the region posting record sales in the second quarter.
“These results provide further evidence of our ability to deliver both earnings growth and cash,” Mr Thiam said.
“We are on track to achieve the remaining objectives of doubling Asia’s 2009 new business profit by 2013.”
The stock advanced as much as 4.5 per cent and was up 2.6 per cent at 1,215 pence at 10.45am in London, bringing its gain this year to 41 per cent.
Operating profit from Jackson National Life, Prudential’s US business, jumped 32 per cent to £582 million, helped by sales of Elite Access, a variable annuity product.
Sales of life insurance products by 42 per cent in China, 38 per cent in the Philippines and Korea and 28 per cent in Vietnam, according to the statement.
“The Asian business is proving resilient,” Edward Houghton, an analyst at Bernstein Research with an outperform rating on the stock, wrote in a report to clients. “This is another good set of results.”
Reuters
