[ET Net News Agency, 27 April 2020] Nomura lowered its target price for China Pacific
(CPIC)(02601) to HK$32.02 from HK$32.32 and maintained its "buy" rating.
The research house said CPIC reported a set of mixed 1Q results, with strong earnings
growth but weak life premium growth. The key positive surprise was from CPIC P&C business
with net profit up by 90% and annualized RoE improved by 6.5pp to 16%.
Life agency channel FYP (first-year premium) was down 31% for 1Q, implying NBV may drop
by 30%, because of disruptions to offline agent activities from the COVID-19 outbreak,
which should be temporary, Nomura noted.
Looking ahead, Nomura expects a gradual recovery of life business sales activities from
April given that the outbreak seems to be largely under control in China. It raised its
FY2020-22 earnings forecasts by 22%/19%/19%. (KL)