Prudential On Track To Meet Final 2013 Objective; Sets New Targets For 2017

(RTTNews) - UK insurer Prudential Plc (PUK, PRU.L) Tuesday announced that it has now met five of its six 2013 objectives, and that it is on track to achieve the remaining objective of doubling 2009 Asia new business profits by 2013. The company also set three new objectives for 2017.

Looking ahead, the company said that it will continue to invest in the medium to long-term future and are well positioned to deliver compelling returns to shareholders.

Prudential noted that the progress it made towards achieving its 2013 objectives in spite of the financial crisis demonstrates that the company can both grow profitably and generate solid cash flows from all four business units.

In its today's conference for investors and analysts in London under the continuing theme of 'Growth and Cash', Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam will outline its three new objectives.

The company expects Asia Underlying Free Surplus Generation of 0.9 billion pounds to 1.1 billion pounds in 2017, compared to 484 million pounds in 2012. Asia life and asset management pre-tax IFRS operating profit would grow at a compound annual rate of at least 15 percent over the period 2012 to 2017 from 2012's 924 million pounds. The company also projects cumulative Group Underlying Free Surplus Generation of at least 10 billion pounds over the four-year period from 2014 to end-2017.

The company said its strategy is unchanged, and that the fundamental drivers of long-term success in Asia remain intact.

According to the firm, its two new 2017 objectives in Asia is based on its exposure to fast-growing sweet-spot markets, increasing demand for savings and protection products from a rapidly emerging and increasingly wealthy middle class, and the company's track record of execution.

In the more developed markets of the US and the UK, the company said it is focused on delivering earnings and cash by meeting the savings and retirement needs of the 'baby-boomers' in the US and of the ageing population in the UK.

Prudential said its conference will also feature presentations from Prudential's four business units, including Prudential Corporation Asia, Jackson National Life Insurance Company in the US, M&G and Prudential UK and Europe.

Thiam said, "Looking beyond 2017, we are building the Group's long-term future by selectively investing in markets that share many of the positive characteristics that we find in our existing Asian markets, namely fast-growing GDP, a young population and low insurance penetration....Our overall scale and the core skills we have developed in Asia enable us to develop new markets at low opportunity cost."

In London, Prudential shares closed Monday's trading at 1,266 pence, up 10 pence or 0.80 percent.