Starting with AIA's 2024 full year results, AIA aims to generate 75% of the annual net free surplus.
The Zhitong Finance App learned that CICC released a research report stating that it maintained AIA's (01299) “outperforming the industry” rating, updated the impact of the repurchase plan on financial indicators, and raised the new business value forecast for the Hong Kong market in China, with a target price of HK$74.
AIA announced 1Q24 results: New Business Value (VONB) +27%/+31% YoY at actual/fixed exchange rate, better than the bank/market expectations of 7.1%/8.1%, mainly due to the better-than-expected year-on-year growth rate of VONB in mainland China and Hong Kong; +23%/+26% YoY at the real/fixed exchange rate, and +1.9pp/ +2.1ppt to 54.2% YoY at the real/fixed exchange rate.
According to the report, the company optimizes capital management policies. 1) Starting with the 2024 full-year results, 75% of the net free surplus generated in the year is the dividend rate target, and the remainder other than regular dividends will be returned through repurchases; 2) Regularly review the capital situation and return capital to shareholders. The company's board of directors has approved an additional $2 billion in repurchases, which are expected to be completed within about 12 months. Under the new policy, the bank expects the 2024e dividend rate to be about 3.1%. As of April 28, the remaining repurchase amount will increase to US$3.83 billion, accounting for 4.7% of the current market value.