(Yicai Global) March 24 -- Shares of ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance slumped after the Chinese internet insurer reported its first annual net profit after going public in 2017, not greatly exceeding expectations.

ZhongAn's stock price [HK: 6060] dropped as much as 12.1 percent to as low as HKD44.30 (USD5.70) intraday today. The Hang Seng Index was 2.2 percent down. ZhongAn had been climbing last month after the company said that it is likely to have turned profitable in 2020.

The property and casualty insurer posted CNY550 million (USD84.4 million) in net profit in 2020 amid growing health and digital lifestyle-related insurance demand, the Shanghai-based company said in its earnings report yesterday. It had predicted the figure to be at least CNY500 million. In 2019, it made a net loss of CNY454 million.

Feedback from the capital market will make management think about business development, but ZhongAn values long-term development more than short-term market fluctuations, Chief Executive Jiang Xing said in an interview with Yicai Global yesterday.

Premiums edged up 4.2 percent to CNY16.7 billion (USD2.6 billion) in 2020. Health insurance was the biggest growth driver. Such premiums jumped by over 37 percent to CNY6.6 billion (USD1 billion), making up 40 percent of the total as people got worried about their health amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Moreover, digital lifestyle insurance, which covers e-commerce, ride-hailing, and handset mishaps, was increasingly popular. Premiums rose by over 25 percent to CNY6.3 billion.

Founded in 2013, ZhongAn is China’s first internet insurance company, counting Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings, and Ping An Insurance as some of its investors.

Editor: Dou Shicong, Emmi Laine