JP Morgan: Maintains "overweight" rating on AIA (01299) with a target price of 92 Hong Kong dollars.

JP Morgan released a research report stating that it maintains an "overweight" rating on AIA (01299) with a target price of 92 Hong Kong dollars. The company's performance last year slightly exceeded expectations, with new business value of 4.03 billion US dollars, a 30% increase year-on-year at a substantial exchange rate, higher than the bank's expected 3.95 billion US dollars. Per-share final intermittent growth of 119.07 Hong Kong cents year-on-year, slightly higher than the bank's expected 119 Hong Kong cents; after-tax operating surplus of 6.2 billion US dollars, a 3% decrease year-on-year at a substantial exchange rate. The bank noted that AIA had not disclosed sales data for the first two months of this year, as the mainland's macroeconomy continues to fluctuate, this data may be a key issue. There has also been no separate disclosure of the new business value of its joint venture in India. With the ongoing repurchase, the group has not updated guidelines/prospects for a new round of repurchases. As the market is forecasting AIA's new business value to increase only by 15% to 4.6 billion US dollars this year, the bank expects the market to have room for upward adjustment in its forecast for the new business value due to the increase in the number of employees and the improvement in product gross profit at AIA China in the second half of last year. Although there are significant differences in the economy, the intrinsic value of the group remains stable. In addition, AIA generated free surplus of 16 billion US dollars last year, with basic free surplus of 6 billion US dollars, indicating further room for increase in total shareholder returns.