Ping An’s Net Profit in First Quarter up 27.8%
Hong Kong, Shanghai, April 27, 2011 - Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. (hereafter "Ping An" or "the Company", HKEX: 2318; SSE: 601318) today announced its unaudited results for the three months ended March 31, 2011. Benefiting from a stable external operating environment, the Company actively propelled the healthy development of its three-pillar businesses - insurance, banking and investment and achieved satisfactory results. For the three months ended March 31, 2011, the Company realized a net profit attributable to owners of the parent of RMB5,814 million, representing a growth of 27.8% as compared with the same period of last year.
For the first quarter of 2011 the Company realized a net profit attributable to owners of the parent of RMB5,814 million, or earnings per share of RMB0.76, representing a year-on-year growth of 27.8% and 22.6% respectively. Equity attributable to owners of the parent grew 6.1% to RMB118,893 million from the end of 2010.
The insurance business achieved a brilliant start, with rapid growth in written premiums. Total written premiums of the life insurance business increased by 25.7% to RMB65,793 million. Written premiums of the relatively more profitable individual life business increased by 37.2% to RMB54,902 million. Ping An Property & Casualty realized a premium income of RMB20,305 million, an increase of 33.8% as compared with the same period of last year. The quality of the property and casualty insurance business was kept at a satisfactory level. The annuity business maintained its leading position in the industry with total amount of assets entrusted and assets under investment management exceeding RMB75 billion.
The banking business developed steadily and rapidly. In the first quarter of 2011, Ping An Bank realized a net profit of RMB669 million, representing a significant increase of 66.4% as compared with the same period of last year. Total assets amounted to RMB274,495 million, an increase of 7.3% as compared with the beginning of the year. All business lines continued to make positive contribution. Loans to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises ("SMEs") increased by 37.4% and retail deposits increased by 16.1%, respectively, as compared with the beginning of the year. Credit cards business continues to contribute profits to the banking business, with 235,800 credit cards issued in the first quarter. Non-performing loan ratio is maintained at 0.39%, demonstrating that assets quality remained at the top-tier level within the industry. With the official opening of Zhongshan branch, Ping An Bank now has a total of 10 branches across the country. As an associate company of Ping An, Shenzhen Development Bank ("SDB") has already contributed a profit of RMB464 million to the Company in the first quarter of 2011.
For the investment business, the investment banking division of Ping An Securities and fiduciary management business of Ping An Trust attained exceptional results. Ping An Securities continued to top the SMEs and the Growth Enterprises Market underwriting market, sponsoring 10 IPOs and 2 refinancing projects as lead underwriter in the first quarter, ranking the 2nd in the league table in terms of number of deals. Ping An Trust continues to focus on business transformation and personal wealth management business occupies an important position in Ping An Trust's newly secured assets under management. Ping An Trust also performed with distinction in non-capital market investment by making a breakthrough in bringing in a good external investor and jointly setting up a non-capital market investment fund. Ping An Asset Management actively responded to the changing market, seized investment opportunity in a timely manner and optimized assets allocation, which laid a solid foundation to achieve the full-year earnings target.
Looking into the three quarters ahead, Ping An said, "Under the impacts of climbing commodity prices, increasing inflation pressures and other factors, the domestic and global macroeconomic conditions and the financial industry will inevitably undergo new changes. The upcoming inflation is expected to have effects on macroeconomic policies and the stock market, and also subject domestic enterprise to rising cost pressures. We will pay close attention to changes in the external environment and will embrace and tackle these challenges by making thorough plans and taking precautionary measures; we will proactively deploy all the resources, and will continuously strengthen platform construction and enhance the synergies of integrated finance, so as to maintain a healthy and steady growth across all lines of business. Meanwhile, we will also actively and efficiently integrate SDB with Ping An Bank, in order to further strengthen the implementation of the integrated financial strategy."
