China Life Insurance Company Limited earned 5.85 billion yuan (US$713 million) last year on a pro form a basis, beating market expectation, according to Saturday's South China Morning Post.

However, the company made a net loss of 1.42 billion yuan (US$173 million) on a consolidated basis, with a net loss of 0.07 yuan (US$0.009) per share.

Net premiums and policy fees surged 13.54 percent to 50.8 billion yuan (US$6.2 billion) last year, as rising individual and health insurance policy products helped offset falling fees from group policies.

"The company fulfilled the promises made to its shareholders and is committed to delivering good corporate governance and increasing transparency," said Wang Xianzhang, chairman and president of the company.

"The individual insurance business will continue to play a key role in business development while the group insurance business will focus on the scale and profits in 2004," Wang said.

China Life Insurance Company Limited, a leading life insurance company in China was dual-listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It raised US$3.5 billion in the world's largest initial public offering last year.

(Xinhua News Agency April 24, 2004)