(Bloomberg) -- Ping An Insurance (Group) Co., China’s largest insurer by market , said third-quarter profit rose 8% as its businesses recovered from the coronavirus pandemic and a stock-market rally bolstered investment returns.
Net income climbed to 34.4 billion yuan ($5.1 billion) in the three months ended Sept. 30, from 31.9 billion yuan a year earlier, the Shenzhen-based company said Tuesday. That compares with a 30% slump in first-half profit.
Operating profit, which Ping An says better reflects performance because it strips out short-term volatility, rose by 4.5% in the first nine months of the year, accelerating from a 1.2% first-half gain.
Ping An’s efforts to focus more on higher- products and trim less-productive agents for better long-term growth have weighed on its recovery from the Covid-led disruptions earlier in the year. New business , a gauge of the profitability of new life policies, dropped 27% in the first nine months, steeper than a 24% fall in the first half as it “remained difficult” to hold large-scale offline campaigns, the company said.
Investment income jumped 46% for the September-quarter, the company said. The benchmark Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index rose 8% in the third quarter, reversing declines in the first half of the year.
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