ICICI Prudential plunges 10% as VNB misses estimates: Report

ICICI Prudential plummets: The shares of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance dropped 10 per cent to hit an intraday low of Rs 463.20 per share during early trade on Thursday as weak demand led to a sharp fall in its new business margins. 

The company’s value of new business came in at Rs 436 crore in the December quarter, from Rs 618 crore year-on-year (YoY).

Meanwhile, ICICI Prudential’s VNB margin stood at 22.9 per cent as against 33.9 per cent (YoY).

Annualised Premium Equivalent (APE) surged 4.7 per cent to Rs 1,907 crore.

On premium basis, 61st month persistency improved 120 basis point (bp) quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to 63.1%, whereas 49th month persistency declined 220bp QoQ to 65.7 per cent.  

The company’s asset under management (AUM) soared 13.8 per cent annually to Rs 2.87 lakh crore, while solvency ratio moderated to 196.5 per cent. 

The company’s VNB margin is lower than estimated due to an adverse product mix. The growth in the non-ICICI Bank channel and agency channel is likely to pick up as the base effect kicks in. The increase in agent recruitment and the strong pace of new partnership additions is likely to aid premium growth,” Motilal Oswal said in a note.

As of 9:36 am, shares of ICICI Prudential were trading nearly 8 per cent lower at Rs 475 per share.