Aia Group Ltd S/Adr (AAGIY) Q4 2024 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning and a warm welcome to AIA's annual results presentation. I am delighted to report that AIA has delivered an excellent financial performance in 2024. We achieved double-digit growth across our key metrics for new business, earnings and cash generation, demonstrating the benefits of our growth strategy. Let me now take you through the highlights. Value of new business was up by 18% to a record high of $4.7 billion, building on the strong momentum we have generated in previous years. EV equity increased to $71.6 billion, up by 9% per share, after returning $6.5 billion to shareholders. Operating profit after tax also reached a record high, up by 12% per share. And underlying free surplus generation, our key operating measure of cash generation grew by 10% per share. Following our capital management policy, the Board has recommended an increase of 10% in the final dividend per share, and announced a new share buyback of $1.6 billion. As you can see, we are delivering profitable new business growth, which is driving both strong earnings and cash flow generation. In this way, we create a virtuous circle, funding further capital investment in organic new business, growing our large stock of future earnings, and delivering cash returns to shareholders. Premier Agency is the main driver of profitable growth for the Group, contributing 74% of our VONB. We have the world's leading agency, which has ranked number one globally by MDRT members for the last 10 years, and we hold the top position in nine markets. In 2024, Agency delivered 16% VOMB growth driven by higher activity and productivity, combined with an increase in VOMB margin. Recruitment was also up by 18% with positive growth across the vast majority of our markets. These strong results are the direct outc...