EconomyResults
ICICI Prudential Life profit rises 25% to ₹374 crore, shares slip on the day
The insurer's protection and annuity business grew strongly in the first half, but the stock gave up its early gains and stayed close to its 52-week low.
Key points
- Net profit for July-September rose 25% to ₹374.22 crore, from ₹299.26 crore a year earlier.
- Net premium income grew 16.6% to ₹13,803.90 crore.
- Retail protection APE rose 47.2% in the first half of the year.
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance reported a 25% rise in profit for the July-September quarter on Tuesday, helped by strong demand for protection and annuity policies, though its shares slipped on a day the wider market rallied.
Net profit for the quarter came in at ₹374.22 crore, up from ₹299.26 crore a year earlier. It was 3.1% lower than the ₹386.18 crore the company earned in April-June. Net premium income rose 16.6% to ₹13,803.90 crore.
For the first half of the financial year, profit rose 26.5% to ₹760 crore. The value of new business, a measure of the profitability of policies sold, grew 22.3% to ₹1,283 crore, with a margin of 26%.
“Retail protection Annual Premium Equivalent (APE) registered strong growth of 47.2 per cent YoY,” the company said in a statement. Annuity APE, which tracks sales of pension-style products, grew 50% over the six months. Assets under management stood at ₹3.29 lakh crore at the end of September.
The stock did not share in the market’s cheer. On the NSE it rose to ₹465.20 in the morning, then fell about 4% from that high to ₹446.30. In the afternoon it was trading 2.7% lower at ₹450, while the Nifty was up 1.5%.
The shares are close to their 52-week low of ₹441.80, touched on 1 October, and well below the high of ₹706.80 they reached on 13 January.