This article first appeared on GuruFocus .
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New Business Profit Growth:12% increase in new business profit.
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Adjusted Operating Profit After Tax Per Share:Grew by 12%.
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Gross OFSG:Increased by 15% year-on-year.
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Dividend Per Share:Increased by 15%.
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Return on Embedded Value:Increased to 15%.
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Net OFSG:Up 22% year-on-year.
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Free Surplus Ratio:Ended the year at 221% or 204% excluding IPO net proceeds.
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NBP Margin:Expanded by 2 percentage points to 42%.
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Capital Returns:Plan to return over $7 billion of capital to shareholders between 2024 and 2027.
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Additional Capital Returns:$500 million in 2025 and $600 million expected in 2027.
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Buyback Program:$1.2 billion buyback to be completed by the end of 2026.
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Investment Program:$300 million to $350 million investment planned for 2026.
Release Date: March 18, 2026
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript .
Positive Points
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Prudential PLC ( NYSE:PUK ) achieved double-digit growth across key financial metrics, with new business profit and adjusted operating profit after tax per share both increasing by 12%.
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The company successfully completed the IPO of its Indian asset management company and increased its holding in the Malaysian conventional business to 70%.
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Prudential PLC ( NYSE:PUK ) plans to return over $7 billion of capital to shareholders between 2024 and 2027, demonstrating disciplined capital management.
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The bancassurance channel delivered an outstanding year with new business profit crossing the $1 billion mark, achieving 95% of the lower end of its 2027 objective.
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The company is modernizing its technology and embedding analytics and AI across operations to support its agency force and improve customer experiences.
Negative Points
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The agency channel underperformed compared to bancassurance, with only 4% growth, highlighting a need for improvement in agency recruitment and productivity.
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Prudential PLC ( NYSE:PUK ) faced challenges in Hong Kong due to regulatory changes affecting the broker channel, impacting growth in the second half of 2025.
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The company experienced a decline in active agents by 11%, particularly in emerging ASEAN markets like Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
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There is a need for further improvement in operating variances to return to pre-COVID positive levels, with current variances still slightly negative.
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The company's market share in Hong Kong has decreased, with a focus on quality growth potentially limiting aggressive market share expansion.
Q & A Highlights
Q: Can you provide insights on the growth outlook for China and Hong Kong in 2026, considering the strong performance in 2025? A: Anil Wadhwani, CEO, highlighted that Prudential was pleased with the 2025 outcomes, particularly in China, where new business profit grew by 27%. The company is confident in maintaining momentum into 2026, with a focus on quality growth and risk discipline. In Hong Kong, despite regulatory changes affecting growth in the second half of 2025, Prudential remains focused on quality new business and expects to grow its agency and overall business in 2026.
Q: What initiatives are being taken to drive agency growth, given the slower growth compared to bancassurance? A: Anil Wadhwani, CEO, emphasized that agency transformation is a top priority. The company is focusing on improving productivity and quality recruitment. Naveen Tahilyani, Regional CEO, added that initiatives like PRUVentures in Malaysia have shown promising results, with higher retention and productivity among recruits. The plan is to expand such professional recruitment schemes to other markets.
Q: How is Prudential leveraging technology to enhance agent productivity, and how does it compare to competitors? A: Naveen Tahilyani, Regional CEO, stated that Prudential's proprietary platform, PRUForce, is on par with the best in the market. The company is enhancing capabilities with AI, as demonstrated by the PRUAction system in Singapore, which improved agent productivity by 15%. The focus is on both customer interaction and agent productivity.
Q: Can you elaborate on the capital remittances strategy and its impact on investment margins? A: Benjamin Bulmer, CFO, explained that while maintaining a balance of surplus centrally and in businesses is preferred, excess capital is brought to the center. This has a temporal impact on net investment returns. The company is focused on disciplined capital management and expects to return to positive operating variances by 2027.
Q: What is the outlook for Prudential's non-Chinese markets like Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia? A: Anil Wadhwani, CEO, expressed optimism for these markets. Singapore is expected to achieve high single-digit to early double-digit growth in new business profit. Indonesia has shown consistent double-digit growth, and Malaysia, after a strong second half in 2025, is expected to return to double-digit growth in 2026.
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript .
