AIA Group Ltd. posted a year-over-year increase in net profit for the fiscal year ended Nov. 30, 2017.
The company said consolidated net profit attributable to shareholders jumped to US$6.12 billion, or 51 U.S. cents per share, from US$4.16 billion, or 35 cents per share, in the year-ago period.
The S&P Capital IQ consensus estimate for normalized EPS for the fiscal year was 44 cents. The GAAP EPS estimate was 45 cents.
Premiums and fee income grew to US$26.99 billion from US$21.76 billion, while net premiums and fee income rose to US$25.49 billion from US$20.44 billion.
The group's investment return surged to US$12.62 billion from US$7.56 billion. Total revenue climbed to US$38.33 billion from US$28.20 billion.
Net insurance and investment contract benefits stood at US$24.84 billion, up from US$18.22 billion in the prior-year period.
Value of new business for fiscal 2017 climbed to US$3.51 billion from US$2.75 billion, primarily driven by double-digit growth in its operations in Hong Kong, Malaysia, China and other markets. The value of new business margin clocked in at 56.8%, compared with 52.8% in fiscal 2016.
AIA's annualized new premiums edged up to US$6.09 billion from US$5.12 billion.
Operating profit after tax rose to US$4.65 billion from US$3.98 billion. Total weighted premium income increased to US$26.15 billion from US$22.13 billion.
The group declared a final dividend of 74.38 Hong Kong cents per share, up from 63.75 cents per share a year ago. This brings the total dividend for fiscal 2017 to HK$1 per share, up from 85.65 cents per share in the year-ago period.
