ICICI Prudential Life Q3 Results: Net Profit Falls 30%, Misses Estimates

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co.'s quarterly profit fell, missing estimates, amid a fall in investment income and net premiums.

Net profit fell 30% sequentially to Rs 312 crore in the quarter ended December, the private insurer said in its exchange filing. That compares with the Rs 361.6-crore profit estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg.

Net premium fell 2% sequentially to Rs 9,074 crore. That came on account of a marginal fall across categories—single, renewal and first year premiums.

• Revenue slumped 57% sequentially to Rs 9,865.3 crore, owing to a 95% fall in investment income.

• The company reported an operating profit of Rs 312 crore, down 34% over a quarter ago. That compares with the Bloomberg estimate of Rs 653.7 crore.

• Ebidta margin stood at 3.2% against 2.1% in the preceding quarter.

• Persistency ratios by premium for 13th, 25th, 37th and 49th month fell to 80.9%, 73.5%, 63.2%, 59.4% while for 61st month it marginally improved by 10 basis points to 50.3% over the preceding quarter.

• Solvency ratio stood at 202.2%, compared with the minimum requirement of 150%. That compares with 199.9% and 193.7% in quarters ended September and June.

"Given the environment, financial security for self and family including retirement planning has assumed greater significance with growth of 30% in new business premium for 9M FY2022," NS Kannan, managing director and chief executive officer at ICICI Prudential Life, said in a statement. "Further, almost half of our new business premium for 9M-FY2022 has been contributed by the protection and annuity segments."

• Value of new business grew 35% to Rs 1,388 crore.

• VNB margin expanded to 27.1% from 26%.

• New business premium received stood grew 30%.

• Annuity new business premium was up 75%.

• Contribution from linked savings products stood at 50%, traditional savings products at 29% and protection products at 17% and the balance of 4% from group savings products.

• Assets under management grew 16% to Rs 2.37 lakh crore.

Kannan said the company remains on track to double FY19's of new business by FY23. "During the quarter, we became a signatory to the United Nations supported Principles of Responsible Investment, the first Indian insurance company to do so," he said.