By Carolyn Cohn
LONDON (Reuters) -The coronavirus pandemic is making the short-term outlook uncertain for Prudential (LON:PRU), the Asian-focused insurer said on Wednesday, as it reported a 25% jump in new business profit in the first half of the year.
COVID-19 cases are rising and restrictions increasing in many Asian countries as a result of the more transmissible Delta variant.
"The operating environment remains challenging, we have to run a business of a very nimble model," Chief Executive Mike Wells told a media call, pointing to an increased use of online sales.
Longer term, the pandemic was likely to increase demand for life and health insurance, Wells added.
Prudential will be based only in Asia and Africa after it completes the demerger of its U.S. business Jackson, scheduled for Sept 13. It spun off its UK and European business, M&G, in 2019.
The Jackson demerger follows pressure from activist investor Third Point, which took a stake in Prudential last year.
Third Point also criticised Prudential's London headquarters.
Prudential, which is now regulated in Hong Kong, has headquarters in both cities but is not planning to ditch its London base, Wells said.
The insurer posted a 25% rise in half-year new business profit to $1.18 billion, above the $1.08 billion seen in a company-supplied consensus of analysts' forecasts.
Prudential reiterated it was considering raising around $2.5-3.0 billion of equity through a global offering to institutions and Hong Kong retail investors, following the Jackson split.
Prudential's shares were trading 2.51% higher at 14.88 pounds at 0941 GMT, among the top performers in the FTSE 100. Barclays (LON:BARC) analysts described the results as "resilient", reiterating their "overweight" rating on the stock.
Prudential said it would pay a first interim dividend of 5.37 cents per share, unchanged from a year ago.