(Yicai Global) Aug. 16 -- Ping An Insurance Group, one of China's biggest financial conglomerates, reported a 68 percent surge in first-half profit from a year earlier thanks to its strong retail business.

Net profit came in at CNY98 billion (USD14 billion) for the first six months of this year, the Shenzhen-based company said in an interim earnings report published yesterday. Revenue rose 19 percent to CNY639 billion.

Operating profit at its life and health insurance business was CNY48.4 billion, up over one-third annually and still the largest source of profit for the firm, while that of its property and casualty insurance business was CNY10 billion in an annual jump of over two-thirds.

"We are very happy with our results," Lee Yuansiong, co-chief executive and head of retail, told Bloomberg TV in an interview after the results came out. "China is the largest retail market in the world and it gives a very strong support to our future earnings path."

Ping An plans to pay an interim dividend of CNY0.75 (USD0.11) per share, up an annual 21 percent, in a total distribution of CNY13.7 billion. The firm is one of the few blue chips that will yield high dividends and strong growth certainty, according to Guotai Junan Securities.

Shares in the insurer [SHA:601318] rose 1.3 percent today to end the week at CNY87.46 (USD12.42) each. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.3 percent.

Financial Tentacles

Ping An has diversified into a financial services group that now straddles insurance, banking, investment and internet segments, and the contribution to profits of its non-insurance lines is increasing by the year, though investors still tend to view it as one of the four major domestically-listed A-share insurance giants.

Ping An Bank's net profit climbed 15 percent to CNY15.4 billion, and that of Ping An Trust and Ping An Securities grew by 11 percent and about one-third, respectively.

The company's investment portfolio was worth CNY3 trillion (USD426 billion) as of June 30, an increase of nearly 6 percent in the new year. The company generated almost CNY103 billion in income from investment in the first half, up about twofold annually.

It wrung CNY38.4 billion in revenue from its science and technology line in a more than one-third yearly gain. Ping An's tech unit was worth USD70 billion by June 30, though its operating profit had fallen 29 percent annually, whereas that of its personal business rose by almost a third to CNY67 billion, 91 percent of its operating profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company.

The ranks of the insurance behemoth's individual customers swelled to 196 million, a gain of 6.6 percent from the start of the year.

Editor: Ben Armour