Ping An profit drops 20pc as deals slide

Ping An Insurance (2318) says net profit in the first three quarters fell 20.5 percent year-on-year to 103.04 billion yuan (HK$119.1 billion), and new-business value of its life and health insurance declined by 27.1 percent year-on-year to 42.84 billion yuan.

"In the first nine months of 2020, Ping An's traditional offline operations were hindered and high-value protection business was impacted by the Covid-19 epidemic," Ping An said.

"With the epidemic under control in China, traditional offline operations were gradually recovering, but it remained difficult to hold large-scale offline campaigns and offline customer meetings have not resumed to pre-epidemic levels."

Revenue in the first nine months rose 2.5 percent to 995.12 billion yuan. Basic earnings per share were 5.83 yuan.

Shares of Ping An fell 1.91 percent to HK$84.7 yesterday.

Meanwhile, New China Life Insurance (1336) said net profit in the first three quarters dropped 14.6 percent year-on-year to 11.1 billion yuan. Basic earnings per share were 3.56 yuan. Premium income rose 24.5 percent to 134.35 billion yuan.