Prudential PLC: Initiation of Coverage – Expansion In Emerging Markets & Other Drivers, Financial Forecasts, DCF & Comparables Valuation, ESG & Other Risks (04/23)

This is our first report on Prudential, a major provider of life and health insurance. Prudential had a very strong quarter with 19% sales growth. The early indications are promising for the MCV category. Yet it's encouraging to note that 58% of the MCV are brand-new to Prudential in the first two months. APE increased 44% due to strong momentum in the agency channel. Moreover, Banca experienced rapid development. Prudential Financial, Inc. is focusing on improving its earnings by implementing c

Prudential PLC: Initiation of Coverage – Expansion In Emerging Markets & Other Drivers, Financial Forecasts, DCF & Comparables Valuation, ESG & Other Risks (04/23)

This is our first report on Prudential, a major provider of life and health insurance. Prudential had a very strong quarter with 19% sales growth. The early indications are promising for the MCV category. Yet it's encouraging to note that 58% of the MCV are brand-new to Prudential in the first two months. APE increased 44% due to strong momentum in the agency channel. Moreover, Banca experienced rapid development. Prudential Financial, Inc. is focusing on improving its earnings by implementing c

Coverage terminated

The new Prudential has no European business. It will exclusively be focused on Asian and US operations. The UK business was listed separately. Without the mature markets, the growth potential of Prudential is important in Asia, boosted by the low penetration rate. In the US, and after two years of adaptation to the new regulatory framework, the business should benefit gradually from its diversification strategy.

The demerger is confirmed for Q4 19

Prudential announced an operating profit of £2,024m (up 14% like-for-like and 21% as reported) for its continuing operations, excluding M&GPrudential. Even the profitability of the “new” Prudential is driven by Asian operations. The demerger of the group is expected to be completed in Q4 19.

The finishing straight line for the demerger

M&GPrudential announced its strategy a few months before the expected split of the insurer. The insurer will be structured into business units: Savings & Assets management and Heritage. While a development strategy will be implemented in the first BU, the large With-Profit business of the Heritage unit will be closed to new customers and managed by a specialised company (Diligent). The earnings and the capital position of M&GPrudential are likely to be fragile and would depend on the updates for

Stronger earnings before demerger

Prudential announced operating profit of £4,827m (up 6% lfl) and net profit at £3,013m (up 30% lfl). Like other UK Life insurers, Prudential benefited from new longevity assumption changes (£441m). The Asian business was the major contributor to earnings (c. 38%) as the US operations were hit by equity market movements. The demerger process is progressing well. The insurer announced African acquisitions in Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Togo, but we do not expect a significant impact on the group’s f

On track

Prudential announced operating profit of £2,405m (up 9% lfl). All business units posted improved earnings: +14% for Asia (£1,016m), USA (+2% to £1,002m) and M&G Prudential (+4% at £778m). The planned demerger of M&G Prudential from the group, which will result in two separately-listed companies, is progressing well. The insurer’s status of a good dividend payer is confirmed with an interim dividend of 15.67p/share, up 8%.

Break-up

Prudential announced operating profit of £4,699m (up 6% lfl) and net profit at £2,390m (up 24% lfl). It also announced a major event: the demerger of M&G Prudential from Prudential plc. to focus on regions with extreme rapid growth. M&G will have the opportunity to improve its profitability through more control over its capital allocation. The insurer’s status of a good dividend payer should be kept thanks to the cash generated by the retained businesses.

Asian earnings drive the group’s performances

Prudential’s 9M 17 Life new business profit increased by 17% to £2,469m. The Asian business posted a growing new business profit increase of 15% lfl (up 24% as reported) to £1,616m. APE sales increased by 5% (up 14% as reported). Eastspring AuM reached £44.3bn. In the USA, Jackson’s new business profit increased by 17% (up 28% as reported) to £619m. In the UK & Europe, M&G Prudential delivered external asset management net inflows of £9.9bn. In addition, continued demand for risk-managed solutio

Asia, the winning bet

Prudential announced an IFRS operating profit of £4,256m, up 7% at AER (-2% at CER) relative to 2015. The major contributor to operating profit is the US division (£2,030m), while the Asian and UK businesses stood at £1,644m and £828m, respectively. EEV new business profit grew by 18% to £3,088m: £2,030m (+18% yoy) from Asia, £790m (-2% yoy) from the US and £268m (+33% yoy) from the UK. APE sales increased by 16% to £6,320m, led by Asia (+33% yoy at £3,599m) and the UK (+33% yoy to £1,160m). In

The risky US business mix starts to be worrying

Prudential is recovering on markets with a 3-month performance of more than 7%. Despite the sharp decrease in H1 16 EPS (-52% to 26.9p), IFRS operating profit is positive with a 6% decrease at CER to £2,059m. EEV new business profit grew by 8% to £1,260m. The group’s underlying free surplus generation increased by 13% to £1,609m and cash remitted by business units rose by 5% to £1,118m. Regarding the performances of the business units, the British insurer continued to perform well in the US mark

Political risk over-hang

Mixed messages from UK and EU governments already highlight a potential for on-going political risk, with any sector volatility accentuated by Solvency II. With significant value in the sector we would look to now buy shares with strong fundamentals to be confirmed by upcoming results.

Braced for on-going volatility

We have repositioned the portfolio, price targets and ratings to allow for accentuated regulatory risk from on-going capital market volatility.

A resilient business model across the economic cycle

Prudential announced an IFRS operating profit of £4,007m, up 22% at CER. The major contributor to operating profit is the US division (£1,691m), while the Asian and UK businesses stood at £1,209m and £1,167m, respectively. EEV new business profit grew by 20% to £2,617m. All business units contributed to this growth, with £1,490m (+28 yoy) from Asia, £809m (+8% yoy) from the US and £318m (+23% yoy) from the UK. APE sales increased by 17% to £5,607m, led by Asia where APE sales were 26% higher at

LIBERUM: Plus500: Strategic progress pays dividends

Tatton Asset Management (TAM LN) - Record net inflows

Tatton, the leading on-platform discretionary fund manager (DFM) and IFA support services Group has released a trading update ahead of its results to 31 March 2024, due on 18 June 2024.

Hardman & Co Insight: 2023 was an annus horribilis for Quoted UK Infrastructure and Renewable Energy

The focus of Hardman & Co Research is on the nine quoted Infrastructure Investment Companies (IICs) and on the 22 Renewable Energy Infrastructure Funds (REIFs): the stocks analysed are all members of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC). We are updating our publication of January 2023, assessing both the lacklustre share price performances during 2023 and the key issues, including interest rates, inflation and power prices. As a 31-strong group, its combined market capitalisation is no

Ondo InsurTech FY24 Trading Update

Ondo InsurTech has released a brief post-YE update revealing its good progress continued through 2H24 and consequently FY24 will be in line with market expectations.

BlackRock World Mining

BRWM’s managers: we see all the classic signs of high commodity prices...

NextEnergy Solar Fund - Attractive Refinancing

The refinancing of a £135m revolving credit facility and the extension of a similar £70m facility gives NESF firepower as development opportunities for new solar are especially attractive thanks to lower module prices in Europe. They give the fund key financial flexibility at a critical time as it pursues its capital recycling programme.

The Hardman & Co Monthly: April 2024

Feature article: Steady as she goes, but could be better: A review of investment company liquidity since 2016 Liquidity is the lifeblood of equity markets. The measurement of liquid asset availability to a market or company is a way of gauging a market’s health. This article builds on our previous work, which analysed the liquidity data for non-financial trading companies, by applying the same analytical techniques to the investment companies (IC) space. We analyse liquidity for ICs as a whol

Initial Equity Trading Comments - 19 February 2024

M Winkworth+ (WINK, House Stock at 163p) - Solid FY23A results, well placed to grow

Resilient FY24, confident long-term outlook

Vp’s full year update highlights sector-leading results, once again benefiting from the diversity of its end markets and the quality of its specialist businesses. With results expected to be broadly in line with expectations, we trim our FY24 PBT forecast by c.5% to £39.0m, a shade below the FY23 outturn (£40.2m). We consider this an impressively resilient performance set against a mixed market backdrop. Under new leadership, a strategic refresh is underway and management is confident in long

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 16/04/2024

16th April 2024 * A corporate client of Hybridan LLP ** Arranged by type of listing and date of announcement *** Alphabetically arranged **** Potential means Intention to Float (ITF) has been announced Dish of the day Admissions: Delistings: What’s baking in the oven? ** Potential**** Initial Public Offerings: Reverse Takeovers: Electric Guitar (ELEG.L) Concurrent with its Admission to trading on AIM, Electric Guitar is proposing to acquire the entire issued share capital of 3radical Limited for

Hybridan Research: Sector Review: Artificial intelligence in UK cybersecurity: the human uplift 17/04/2024

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a double-edged sword in cybersecurity. Whilst new AI models, architectures, and innovations are emerging to protect the security posture of organisations, attackers are also benefiting from deepfakes, sophisticated phishing, and automation of malicious codes. To ensure the impact of AI on cybersecurity to be a net-positive, we need to pit good AI against bad AI. Point solutions enhanced with machine learning: Global cybersecurity has been built with point soluti

NextEnergy Solar Fund – High- and growing-income opportunity?

NextEnergy Solar Fund (NESF) is almost 10 years old. Since launch, it has built a £1.2bn, 933MW portfolio of 100 operating solar assets, powering the equivalent of over 330,000 homes, declared dividends totalling £333m, and avoided the emission of about 2.2 Mt CO2e. NESF is on track to pay 8.35p in dividends, with forecast dividend cover of about 1.3x. Share price weakness that has afflicted the whole sector means that dividend translates to a yield of 11.1%, one of the highest in its sector, a

AUM up 30% in FY24, record flows, forecasts raised

AUM jumped £3.8bn or +30% in FY24, reaching £16.6bn on 31 Mar 24, 12% above our previous forecast of £14.7bn. Including 50%-owned 8AM Global, Assets Under Influence hit £17.6bn. Investment performance provided a tailwind, adding £1.5bn to AUM. But our key takeaway from Tatton’s hugely impressive last few years, is that it has designed and implemented a superior offering in platform-MPS with net flows consistently far higher than peers. That leadership looks even more pronounced in H2-24 with net

Morning Note – 18 April 2024