Poor sentiment towards emerging markets has dragged Prudential 's (PRU) shares lower, but these economies provided the fastest increases in new business sales last year. Chief executive Mike Wells stressed a rise in disposable income in Asia and growing demand for savings and protection products. At a group level, all the important metrics saw growth - operating profit increased by more than a fifth to £4bn, free cash surplus generation grew 15 per cent and net cash remitted to the group was up 10 per cent to £1.6bn.
Annual premium sales in Asia grew by 28 per cent to £2.9bn. Eight out of the group's 12 Asian regions generated double-digit growth in sales. Hong Kong led the way, as an increase in the number of agents and rising demand from mainland China resulted in a sales increase of three-quarters.
In the UK, good trading in drawdown, personal pensions and Isas offset a continued decline in annuity sales. Operating profits here grew by 60 per cent to £1.2bn. However, £339m of this was due to one-off management actions, including reinsuring the annuity book's longevity risk. And its asset management arm, M&G, experienced significant retail fund redemptions, with overall net outflows of £7bn against £7.1bn of inflows the previous year.
Analysts at Shore Capital expect adjusted net asset value (NAV) excluding dividends of 1,336p a share at the end of 2016.
PRUDENTIAL (PRU) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 1,351.5p | MARKET VALUE: | £34.8bn | |
| TOUCH: | 1,351.5-1,352.5p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 1,762p | LOW: 1,085p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.9% | PE RATIO: | 13 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 504p* | EMBEDDED VALUE: | 1,258p | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Gross premiums (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£bn) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 25.7 | 1.80 | 56 | 25.2 |
| 2012 | 29.1 | 3.10 | 85 | 29.19 |
| 2013 | 30.5 | 2.08 | 53 | 33.57 |
| 2014 | 32.8 | 3.15 | 87 | 36.93 |
| 2015 | 36.7 | 3.32 | 101 | 38.78 |
| % change | +12 | +5 | +16 | +5 |
Ex-div: 24 Mar Payment: 20 May *Includes intangible assets of £10.1bn, or 393p a share **Excludes special dividend of 10p a share | ||||
