Ping An, one of the world’s biggest insurers by market value, suffered its biggest profit fall in more than a decade last year due to Covid-related weakness in demand and a hit from soured property developments.
The company released annual results on Thursday describing “complex and severe” external conditions that had held back sales, as it posted a fall in group net profit to Rmb101bn ($16bn), from Rmb143bn in 2020 — the 29 per cent fall was its worst since 2008, according to Capital IQ data.
The weaker operating performance was most evident in the life and health division, where Ping An blamed the resurgence of Covid-19 for “changes in customer demands and increased caution over consumption, making critical illness insurance products harder to sell”.