Ge Long Hui·2025-08-30 03:43Core Insights - China Taiping reported a net profit attributable to shareholders of HKD 6.764 billion for the first half of 2025, representing a year-on-year increase of 12.2%, primarily due to a significant reduction in income tax expenses, despite a 38% decline in pre-tax profit [1][2] - The insurance service segment saw a year-on-year growth of 9.5%, while investment performance turned negative [1] - The new business value (NBV) for life insurance increased by 22.8% year-on-year, driven by improvements in agent and bancassurance channels [1][2] Life Insurance Performance - The NBV for Taiping Life grew by 22.8% year-on-year, with new single premiums increasing by 4.2%, indicating an improvement in NBV value rate, likely driven by pricing rate adjustments and integrated sales [1][2] - The life insurance service performance was stable, with a year-on-year increase of 6.0%, but pre-tax profit for life insurance dropped by 40.8% due to a significant decline in investment performance [2] Property Insurance Performance - The property insurance segment, which includes domestic and overseas property insurance as well as reinsurance, experienced rapid growth, with domestic property insurance premiums increasing by 3.1% year-on-year [2] - The combined ratio (COR) for property insurance improved, decreasing by 1.5 percentage points to 95.5%, attributed to cost reduction and fewer major disasters in the first half of the year [2] Investment Performance - The annualized net investment return rate decreased by 36 basis points to 3.11%, primarily due to declining interest rates [2] - The annualized total investment return rate fell by 259 basis points to 2.68%, with significant losses in trading stocks and bonds leading to negative investment performance [2] Profit Forecast and Valuation - Due to a substantial reduction in income tax expenses, the earnings per share (EPS) estimates for 2025, 2026, and 2027 have been raised to HKD 2.34, HKD 2.79, and HKD 3.10 respectively [3] - The target price based on discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation has been adjusted upwards to HKD 20 from HKD 15, maintaining a "buy" rating [3]