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China Life's 2008 net profit may fall more than 50%

By Hu Yuanyuan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-01-21 14:38

China Life Insurance Co Ltd, the country's largest life insurer, may see its 2008 net profit fall over 50 percent due to a significant drop in investment return from its equity assets, the insurer said in a statement on Tuesday.

The company said the forecast was based on preliminary estimates under Chinese accounting standards.

China Life posted a net profit of 28.12 billion yuan ($4.11 billion) in 2007. And the company's net profit in the first half of last year stood at 10.77 billion yuan, down 36 percent year-on-year. The company's solvency ability also fell from 525 percent at the end of 2007 to 305 percent at the end of June 2008.

Despite the lackluster performance, the company was assigned A1, A+,A+, the fifth-highest ratings, from Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings.