Lyons expects AIA (01299) to increase after-tax operating profit by 4%, gradually improving with the recovery of new business value.
According to the financial news app, Lyon released a research report stating that it maintained AIA's (01299) 'outperform' rating, believing that its fundamentals are stable, stock price valuation is low, and shareholder returns are 7%. It has fine-tuned its investment and forex forecast, and has lowered the target price from HKD 82 to HKD 77.
According to the report, the company will announce its first-half performance on August 22. It is expected that the new business value will increase by 24% calculated at a fixed exchange rate, which means that the growth rate in the second quarter will slow to 17% (up 31% in the first quarter), mainly due to the base effect and within expectations. The bank also expects after-tax operating profit to increase by 4%, gradually improving with the recovery of new business value.