Prudential Reports Strong H1 2022 Margins; FVE Maintained, Shares Undervalued

We like Prudential plc's first-half results, now as a business fully focused on protection in Asia and Africa. Some of Prudential’s success is shown in its 3.8% growth in customers, now standing at 19.3 million, and this may grow in the second half as Prudential launched in April its stand-alone Syariah life insurance entity in Indonesia, making it the first global insurer to do so. In Malaysia, management suggests that Prudential has maintained its market-leading position in the takaful segment. Prudential continues to demonstrate good customer retention at 90% for the first half of 2022 versus 89% in the full year of 2021. Prudential achieves this through its distribution network of 530,000 licensed tied agents and 170 bancassurance partners, 32 of which are exclusive bancassurance arrangements. This gives Prudential access to 27,600 bank branches and agents now have the advantage of Prudential’s Pulse mobile application. This digital offering recorded 4.8 million leads in the first half of 2022, around a quarter of agency annual premium equivalent sales.