PING AN OVERCOMES INVESTMENT LOSSES TO BOOST Q1 PROFIT

Lower investment returns could not stop China's second largest life insurer Ping An reporting a sizeable year-on-year growth in first quarter net profit. In a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the Shenzhen-based company revealed a first quarter net profit of Yuan4.96bn - up 25.2% on the previous year. Based on international accounting standards, Ping An's earnings for the period totalled Yuan7.1bn, compared with Yuan5.7bn a year ago. The performance was impacted by high claims stemming from this year's snowstorms and the volatile performance of China's stock market. Ping An's insurance revenue was up more than a third to Yuan35.8bn. In particular non-life insurance premiums grew 42.4% to Yuan7.58bn while life insurance premiums for the period were up a third to Yuan28.2bn. Earlier this week, China Life Insurance saw its first quarter profits down 61% year-on-year on the back of the poor stock market performance.