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Insurance company's profits decrease
By Ai Liangsheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-03-25 09:09

State-backed China Insurance International reported a 22-per-cent drop in net profit last year, with its life and general insurance divisions posting losses due to rising mainland expansion costs.

The insurance firm, based and listed in Hong Kong, posted a net profit of HK$140.8 million (US$18.07 million) last year, down from HK$180.4 million in 2002 (US$23.15 million).

Turnover was HK$4.33 billion (US$555 million), up from HK$2.77 billion (US$355 million), buoyed by the company's 50.05-per-cent-owned life-insurance unit, Tai Ping Life Insurance, whose revenue nearly doubled to HK$3.08 billion (US$395 million).

The results were in line with market expectations for net profit of HK$145.1 million (US$18.6 billion), according to an analyst poll by Thomson First Call.

Life insurance has become one of the firm's key revenue drivers, though its mainland life insurance business took a knock last year, reporting a net loss of HK$91.3 million (US$11.7 million).

The company said its earnings were also dented by the SARS outbreak in 2003, which accounted for some unusual reinsurance losses, though it said the outlook for that area of business was still solid.

Earnings per share was 10.6 HK cents in 2003, down from 14 HK cents a year earlier. The final dividend was cut to 1.2 HK cents from 1.5 HK cents, taking the full-year dividend to 2.4 HK cents.

China Insurance International's shares ended yesterday up HK$0.125 or 3.13 per cent, at HK$4.10, on trade of 2.71 million shares worth HK$11.02 million (US$1.41 million).

China's insurance sector has rarely been out of the news since the US$3.5 billion flotation of China Life Insurance in December last year - the biggest global initial public offering (IPO) of 2003.

This followed hard on the heels of PICC Property & Casualty's November 2003 listing, which raked in HK$5.41 billion (US$694 million) for the mainland insurance giant.

China Life Insurance has since come under investor scrutiny after China's National Audit Office unearthed evidence of accounting irregularities at its mainland parent.

However its share price has stayed relatively steady since the beginning of the year, and it remains one of the most heavily-traded stocks on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

China Life Insurance ended yesterday unchanged at HK$5.00, on trade of 5.066 million shares worth HK$25.044 million (US$3.2 million). PICC Property & Casualty ended up HK$0.125 or 4.31 per cent at HK$3.025.

China's other major mainland insurers, encouraged by the success of their peers and government encouragement, have been quick to release their own listing plans.

Ping An Insurance Group, the mainland's second-largest life insurer, plans to raise US$2 billion (US$256 million) from a listing on Hong Kong's main board in May.

New China Life Insurance will make an IPO in China's A-shares market this year, becoming the first listed insurer in the domestic stock market.

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