Chairman Says Vietnam Insurer PVI Holdings 1st Half Profit to Beat Forecast

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PVI Holdings, Vietnam’s second- largest listed insurer, forecast first-half earnings will beat its target by 19 percent, buoyed by an increase in non-life- insurance revenue.

After-tax profit for the first six months may be 95.5 billion dong ($4.5 million), while revenue is estimated at 4.17 trillion dong [$196.74 million], Chairman Nguyen Anh Tuan said in an interview in his office in Hanoi yesterday. Full-year profit may be 259.2 billion dong [$12.3 million], 6.9 percent more than targeted, Tuan said.

Non-life revenue rose 9.2 percent in the January-June period to 3.14 trillion dong [$148.15 million], according to Tuan.

PVI, partly owned by Talanx AG, Germany’s third-largest insurer, plans to establish a financial services unit next quarter. Called PVI Asset Management, the unit will have capital of between 50 billion dong and 100 billion dong [$2.36 million and $4.718 million] Tuan said.

The company’s shares dropped 1 percent to 19,600 dong yesterday, paring this year’s advance to 8.3 percent. The benchmark Ho Chi Minh Stock Index has jumped 19 percent.

HDI-Gerling Industrie Versicherung AG, a unit of Talanx, owns a 33.06 percent stake in PVI, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Vietnam Oil & Gas Group is the largest shareholder with 36.89 percent