10th Mar 2015 06:43
LONDON (Alliance News) - Prudential PLC Tuesday reported a big increase in profit for 2014, driven partly by new business profit in Asia, but the results were overshadowed by news that Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam will leave to become the new CEO of Swiss bank Credit Suisse AG.
Credit Suisse confirmed media reports that its current Chief Executive Brady Dougan is to step down and will be replaced by Thiam in June.
Prudential reported a net profit of GBP2.22 billion for 2014, up from 1.35 billion in 2013, while its closely-watched operating profit rose 14% at constant exchange rates to GBP3.19 billion. Total new business profit on a European Embedded Value basis was up10% on a constant currency basis to GBP2.13 billion.
The insurer said its Asian new business profit rose 13% to GBP1.16 billion, while its portfolio of life businesses in the region delivered a combined operating profit of GBP1.05 billion, up 16% on the year.
?The group delivered a strong performance in 2014. We continued to grow across our key metrics despite the challenges presented by historically low long-term interest rates in the US and the UK, major currency discontinuities in some of our key Asian markets and unprecedented regulatory changes in the UK life market," the company said in a statement.
It raised its full-year dividend by 10% To 36.93 pence a share.
Prudential was also optimistic about the outlook, based on the recovering economies of the US and UK and the prospects for life insurance in Asia.
?Looking ahead, the economic environment in the US and the UK appears to show signs of improvement. Furthermore, we are optimistic about the outlook for the emerging economies of Asia, where the long-term fundamentals of our life insurance business remain compelling. We continue to see strong economic growth and increasing demand for insurance from a rapidly growing and prosperous middle class which is under-insured," it said.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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