Hargreaves Lansdown says Prudential has eastern promise

12th Mar 2014 10:58

Broker Hargreaves Lansdown highlighted Prudential's upbeat prospects after "sparkling" annual results and said the City regarded it as a 'strong buy'.Prudential said on Wednesday that a strong performance in Asia had helped it to drive a 17% rise in the group's full-year operating profit to £2.9bn. Hargreaves said things were looking good for the Pru in Asia, where an emerging middle class is likely to boost demand for insurance and savings products.The Pru was also set to benefit from US baby boomers and an ageing population in the UK, it said.Hargreaves' Head of Equities Richard Hunter said the positive elements of the results eclipsed the few negatives.A 15% increase in the annual dividend payment lifted a relatively anaemic dividend yield of 1.8% and strong performances in Asia and the US more than made up for flat UK operating profit."Prudential has delivered a sparkling set of numbers which belie Asian economic concerns and are in sharp contrast to an otherwise lacklustre market," Hunter said."Prudential's ability to capitalise on its financial strength and geographical diversity is self-evident and the market is equally buoyed by its prospects - the consensus has recently strengthened further and now comes in at a strong buy."Prudential's shares rose 44p or 3.2% to 1,405p at 11:11 in London.PW