ICICI Prudential Life rallies 13% in two days post FY18 results

The stock was up 5% to Rs 438 in early morning trade, surging 13% in past two trading sessions on the BSE, after new business margin improved to 16.5% in FY18 from 10.1% in FY17.

Shares of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance (IPRU) were up 5% to Rs 438 per share in early morning trade, surging 13% in past two trading sessions on the BSE, after the company reported better than expected results for the financial year 2017-18 (FY18).

The insurance company reported 93.1% increase in the Value of New Business (VNB) at Rs 12.86 billion in FY18 as compared to Rs 6.66 billion for FY17.

This robust growth is attributable to the growth in both savings and protection Annualized Premium Equivalent (APE) as well as improvements in persistency and cost efficiency, IPRU said in a statement.

The new business margin during the fiscal increased by 6.4 ppts to 16.5% from 10.1%, propelled by a rejig of the product mix towards increased protection products, reduction in expenses, improved profitability of ULIP and Par saving products, and changes in corporate taxation assumption.

IPRU is well positioned to capitalize on the growth opportunity in India’s Life Insurance sector. At 16.5%, IPRU’s new business margin has reached respectable levels and any further expansion will be driven by a greater share of increased protection products in the product mix, improvement in the expense ratio and sustained improvement in persistency. However, the improvement in margin will be gradual unlike the steep changes seen in recent years,” analysts SBICAP Securities said in result review.