Prudential Slips To Hefty Net Loss In H1; Profit From Cont. Opns Climbs; Stock Up

(RTTNews) - Prudential plc (PRU.L, PUK) reported Wednesday that its first-half IFRS loss was $4.64 billion, compared to last year's profit of $534 million.

The latest results include a loss after tax of $7.5 billion for the required write-down of Jackson, the US business, to estimated fair value following the Board's decision to demerge Jackson announced in the first half of 2021.

IFRS profit after tax from continuing operations was $1.07 billion, up 72 percent from $622 million last year. Earnings per share from continuing operations were 40.9 cents, higher than 23.1 cents a year ago.

Adjusted operating profit from continuing operations was $1.57 billion, compared to $1.29 billion a year ago.

Life new business profit from continuing operations was $1.18 billion, up 29 percent from $912 million last year.

Looking ahead, the company said, "We expect the vaccination programmes being rolled out during 2021 and 2022 to facilitate a gradual return to more normal economic patterns , although the pace of these programmes and their effect are likely to vary substantially and give a degree of uncertainty over the economic outlook and therefore the performance of the business in the short term."

The company added that it is continuing to move toward the proposed demerger of Jackson, which it plans to complete in September 2021, subject to shareholder approval. The proposed demerger will complete its strategic transformation to focus exclusively on higher-growth and higher risk-adjusted return businesses in Asia and Africa.

Prudential also continues to consider raising equity of around $2.5-3.0 billion through global offering to institutions and Hong Kong retail investors, after the proposed Jackson demerger.

In London, Prudential shares were trading at 1,482 pence, up 2.10 percent.