Listen to our latest Investing Matters Podcast episode 'Uncovering opportunities with investment trusts' with The AIC's Richard Stone here.
London South East prides itself on its community spirit, and in order to keep the chat section problem free, we ask all members to follow these simple rules. In these rules, we refer to ourselves as "we", "us", "our". The user of the website is referred to as "you" and "your".
By posting on our share chat boards you are agreeing to the following:
The IP address of all posts is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. As a user you agree to any information you have entered being stored in a database. You agree that we have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic or board at any time should we see fit. You agree that we have the right to remove any post without notice. You agree that we have the right to suspend your account without notice.
Please note some users may not behave properly and may post content that is misleading, untrue or offensive.
It is not possible for us to fully monitor all content all of the time but where we have actually received notice of any content that is potentially misleading, untrue, offensive, unlawful, infringes third party rights or is potentially in breach of these terms and conditions, then we will review such content, decide whether to remove it from this website and act accordingly.
Premium Members are members that have a premium subscription with London South East. You can subscribe here.
London South East does not endorse such members, and posts should not be construed as advice and represent the opinions of the authors, not those of London South East Ltd, or its affiliates.
Good luck with your decision. Over the weekend, something as innocent as a balloon caused me to take 80% off my holding yesterday to bank a very decent profit. Yes, I remain invested albeit at a reduced extent and am looking to add to my holding and average up. Buy the rumour and sell the facts is as good a reason that I can attribute to what is going to happen in terms of there being a financial update, but on this occasion, there is the unknown impact that cancelling a diplomatic visit will have.
Investing is not finite. The race can be joined at any time - in this case, think of it as a rain stopped play, which as a side benefit allows me to have a stretch of legs, catch up on things that had been neglected before MY game restarts.
Never imagined how a hot air balloon could affect a share price!
It is still such an uncertain world.
Morgan Stanley follows Schroders in getting approval to own 100% of its JV.
Hopefully Pru gets an agreement with CITIC to own the asset management JV shortly.
Invested here based on good recent momentum.
yes, peaceful enough as a place to have
some money snoozing in the deckchair.
HK market had a positive start…bodes well for more gains in the short term…..does seem to be heading back to the equity raise price and £15.
Prudential plc to open branch in Macau
to provide life and health insurance solutions
Prudential plc (Prudential) today announced it has received approval from the Macau Special Administrative Region to establish a branch of its Hong Kong business in Macau. With the addition of Macau, Prudential will have a presence in 24 markets across Asia and Africa.
Prudential will initially offer life and health insurance solutions in Macau through its digitally-enhanced agency force. These solutions include multi-currency options to meet customer needs in savings, healthcare and protection.
Lilian Ng, Managing Director, Strategic Business Group, Prudential said the new Macau branch completes the company's footprint in China's Greater Bay Area (GBA).
The GBA is made up of nine cities in the Guangdong Province and the two Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Its substantial population of 86.7 million people contributed to 11 per cent of China's GDP[1] in 2021.
"While we have seen rapid economic development in Macau, insurance penetration remains low. With the city's fast-ageing population, there is strong demand from its residents for solutions that can help them access private healthcare facilities in Macau and elsewhere in the GBA.
"The Macau branch will play a pivotal role in our strategy to make healthcare and financial security more accessible to people in the GBA, as we leverage our 50-year experience of providing insurance to customers in Hong Kong," said Ng.
Macau has a life insurance penetration rate at 6.4 per cent in 2021[2] - slightly over one-third of Hong Kong's 17.3 per cent. In 2021, the gross written premium of Macau's life insurance industry grew 26 per cent year-on-year to reach MOP 33 billion[3] (approximately USD 4 billion[4]), driven by rising demand for protection and wealth accumulation products in the city.
Lawrence Lam, Chief Executive Officer of Prudential Hong Kong, who will have management and performance oversight of the Macau branch, said, "We are delighted to have the opportunity to offer our innovative insurance solutions to the people of Macau. The establishment of the Macau branch is a key milestone for the Group's GBA strategy."
Chris Ma appointed as General Manager of Prudential Macau
Prudential has appointed Chris Ma to be the General Manager of Prudential Macau with immediate effect. In this role, Ma will be responsible for driving the operational strategy, establishing the distribution channels and building a comprehensive suite of products in Macau. He will lead key initiatives to launch the company's agency advisory and customer support services.
With a strong track record of driving agency productivity and recruitment, Ma brings with him more than 30 years of solid experience in the insurance industry. He was the Chief Executive Officer of AIA Macau prior to joining Prudential.
Prudential's Macau branc
Will be one of Fitzpatricks last interviews as CEO….new man due in soon….and looking forward to what he has to say at the HY once he has got his feet under the table…
The move from London to HK for the primary listing will take time…..my guess is when more than half the shareholdings are registered and traded in HK/SNG….
Heading up in my opinion.
Great interview with Pru today on Sky Business News. Over 400,000 (The Man from Pru) salesman on the ground Huge potential in Asia. Only 4% penetration in China (markets) Plus much more to come From India and Indonesia . Looked and sounded very promising now Hong Kong has opened for Business again. Hopefully first signs of SP recovery????
Jefferies raises price target to 1900.
Seems a bit of a stretch…separately I see SDR has got approval for a new fund venture in China….looking forward to hearing Pru gets control of its Chinese ventures.
Congratulations Alas_Smith, you're timing was excellent! I've held for decades, and I can't remember the SP EVER rising 50% so quickly before. For a relatively large company, it must be quite unusual, but they did start from a surprisingly low base. I guess the SP action is driven largely by Chinese politics, but it's hard to tell these days.
The market seems to have anticipated the ‘normalisation’ of the HK/CN border starting next week…..this should help with 2023 sales but will presumably continue to be a drag…..however with increased connectivity from China to invest in HK vehicles there may be a systemic change an mainland business may become the preferred solution for chinese mainlanders……Pru needs to work out its approach in China - will it increase its stake in the CITIC Pru JVs? That should be preferred to building a new franchise.
The recent 50% gain reflects the oversold nature of the stock, and surely reflects some over optimism, so like AS I expect a pull back soon, but there is still room for gains over 2023 from this position, still 40-50% upside before the share get back to the share issue price in HK which is the HKD/USD value I would use to assess valuation given this is now a $ stock. £ price is affected by a 15-20% fall in £ relative to $, so the old £15 is closer to £18 now…..
January is often a good month for stock markets around the world. I attribute this to bonuses at Christmas being put to work. The flies in the ointment are recession and Russia. From what I can determine is that USA is likely to narrowly avoid recession, but markets will remain sensitive. I don’t buy the doom that the UK will have a deep recession, though I do expect it to be quite prolonged.
The recent change is policy by China has allowed PRU to pick up her skirts, so I am keen to average this holding up once some of the froth in the share price has settled.
The long view is all about China, its continued progress of its peoples in getting better off and needing investment / insurance products and its wider influence on the macro economics of Asia…..
Pru is now an excellent diversification play for UK investors….its fortunes should not depend much on the UK government and UK prospects.
nice to keep an eye on the long view.
happy new year to us all, i hope.
Asian markets have been reacting positively to China changing its approach to Covid and this is benefitting Pru where new business is weighted towards HK and its cross border business.
I am not so interested in the 2022 results in mid March, but will be much more interested in what management has to say about the direction of trading, the effect of implementing IFRS17 which they have not commented on yet and any change in strategy and the new CEOs views.
They have a number of issues to resolve:
Selling down the Jackson stake
Strategy for their JVs in China and India (mainly)
Scaling up in Africa (more territories and in market growth).
Encouraging HK/SNG shareholders to build these listings as I would be disappointed if Pru still has its primary listing in London come 2030.
I expect some limited restructuring of the Group and major investment in online distribution and servicing.
Financially, I hope they will be able to maintain the 12-15% growth rate and grow the dividend similarly.
There is a Jackson chat board 0JKF but has little traffic. I wonder how many pru holders kept or disposed of jxn, I for one increased in it significantly. One downside is withholding tax on dividends and the £/$ is not as favourable as a few weeks ago.
The Jackson holding is not significant to Pru……but i for one dont mind posts here about JNL…where else are longer standing pru owners who now have JNL going to post.
Hi Jatw,
Thank you. You are correct PRU does still retain and interest in Jackson Financial Inc.
From the latest report and accounts :-
"In total proceeds of $376 million have been received from reducing our holding
in Jackson Financial Inc. from 19.7 per cent at the time of the demerger in 2021
to approximately 9.0 per cent at 5 August 2022...."
Always happy to acknowledge when I am wrong. I apologise for misleading readers
" Reckon you will be able to pick up Pru for 9xx and sell for 10xx almost every month until China makes up its mind."
yes.... I have done well from that .....
needs inflation in Asia to fall too, as margins at PRU have suffered over there ....
Their digital investment will pay dividends in terms of cost savings though , with more work done online
If inflation recedes as a result of a short recession everywhere ...then things can begin again within late Q1 and into q2 2023
China needs to move investors off property speculation ..and Asia off crypto speculation ....and move into safer investment areas ...of which PRU could benefit from
Good deal I hope PokerChips.
Reckon you will be able to pick up Pru for 9xx and sell for 10xx almost every month until China makes up its mind.
Can’t see Pru being able to do many deals…more of an organic play…in a market that has been growing at 12-15% for quite a while…..confident it will do well in the future…but as a USD stock rises in £ have taken the edge off recently..
I sold on Monday´s climb .... I don't trust China at the moment.....and this share price seems to just react to what happens there ...at present..
You don't get much outside of the Trading Updates from PRU ...so it seems to move on economic and political sentiment with market traders ....
hi mr picky, the sharetoken i posted did give full free access to that
article, but only for about one week or so after sharing it, then the
token expires. (can’t be bothered to look back at that edition, soz!)
If I may be picky Mr Picky
I believe Pru retains a near 20% holding in Jackson, and nil in M&G.
Jackson results will not be consolidated and so will not affect Pru earnings in a meaningful way.
It did sell some in the recent buy back programme, but the BB was targetting about 10% of equity so I dont think Pru dropped its share of ownership by much.
Prudential demerged Jackson last year so their results are not relevant to PRU anymore