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Ping An Insurance Quarterly Profit Rises Amid Stock Rally

Ping An Insurance Quarterly Profit Rises Amid Stock Rally

Ping An Insurance (Group) Co., China’s largest insurer by market value, 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-value 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 value, 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.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

With assistance from Bloomberg