SHANGHAI -- China Life Insurance Co., the country's largest life insurer by premiums, said first-half net profit rose 29% from a year earlier due to gains in the value of its securities holdings.
Net profit for the six months ended June 30 rose to 13.92 billion yuan ($2.04 billion) from 10.77 billion yuan a year earlier, according to Chinese accounting standards.
Under international accounting standards, the company's net profit was 18.23 billion yuan, up 15% from 15.84 billion yuan a year earlier and matching the median forecast of four analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires.
The insurer said it booked a gain of 1.52 billion yuan on the value of its financial assets, compared with a loss of 7.77 billion yuan a year earlier. The company said it benefited from both a sharp rise in China's stock market and a decision to shift some funds into shares at the expense of fixed-income products.
At the end of June, stocks accounted for 7.88% of the company's 1.04 trillion yuan investment portfolio, up from 4.36% at the end of 2008. Its allocation to bonds fell to 51.51% on June 30 from 61.45% on Dec. 31.
Investment income fell to 33.69 billion yuan from 34.20 billion yuan, as income from tradable securities fell to 48 million yuan from 2.02 billion yuan, the company said.
China Life said its first-half premium income fell to 172.31 billion yuan from 181.45 billion yuan a year earlier, mainly due to a 54.3% decline in premium from insurance contracts sold to groups.
