Prudential PLC (LSE:PRU) will delve into final results on Wednesday, March 20, after shares in the insurer have been pressured by slow post-pandemic economic recovery in China.
Indeed, a range of spin-offs and demergers in recent years has left Prudential “a play on demand for financial services in Asia and Africa,” according to AJ Bell’s Russ Mould.
“Prudential’s long-term strategy is to position itself for both population growth and also increased prosperity and the rise of the middle class, as this is potentially the sweet spot for increased demand for financial products and services,” he said.
The update will provide clarity on plans laid out by chief executive Anil Wadhwani upon his arrival at the company last year, according to Mould.
This includes achieving compound annual new business profit growth of 15% to 20% from 2022 to 2027, alongside similar targets in its in-force insurance and asset management wings.
“This set of full-year results for 2023 will be the first step along that path and the figures will be judged in that context,” Mould said.
“After that, analysts and shareholders will assess four near-term metrics to gauge whether the results from last year and outlook for this one are good, bad or somewhere in the middle.”
These include annual premium equivalents, new business profit, operating profit and the final dividend, which came in at US$4.4 billion, US$2.1 billion, US$3.38 billion and US$0.18 (15.1p) respectively last year.
Analysts are expecting a full-year dividend of 15.9p a share for 2023, meanwhile.