Proactive Investors - Prudential PLC's (LON:PRU) first-quarter results disappointed investors who had expected a share buyback to be announced, though directors gave strong hints that this remains in their plans for later in the year.
The FTSE 100-listed insurer, which has a major focus on Asia, reported an 11% rise in new business profit to US$810 million, excluding economic impacts.
After allowing for economic impacts, new business profit was flat on last year at $726 million.
Annual premium equivalent sales were up 7% to $1.625 billion, with held back by headwinds from Vietnam.
CEO Anil Wadhwani said he was pleased as the same quarter last year was an outperformance when the border between Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland reopened.
"Our continued focus on the quality of business written is reflected in new business profit (excluding economic impacts) growing more than APE sales. Our total APE sales have grown sequentially each quarter since Q3 2023, reflecting resilient consumer demand across Asia and demonstrating the strength of our multi-market and multi-channel distribution model."
He said the focus remains on "accelerating value creation for our shareholders and we expect to provide an update on our capital management plans by HY 2024 results".
Analysts at Jefferies noted that Prudential's new business growth was considerably slower than Hong Kong-quoted rival AIA, which reported 27% growth yesterday.
They said: "While we expect that the market was hoping for a share buyback, especially after AIA yesterday, the lack of additional capital returns today is partially compensated for with management's comment that 'we expect to provide an update on our capital management plans by the HY 2024 results'."