Mar. 29, 2012 (China Knowledge) - PICC Property & Casualty Co<2328>, China's largest non-life insurer in terms of premiums, said yesterday that its net profit surged 52% year on year to RMB 8.03 billion last year, boosted by strong growth in underwriting profit.

Earnings per share were RMB 0.68 last year, and the insurer declared no final dividend.

The company saw its turnover increase 12.7% year on year to RMB 173.96 billion last year, with market share reaching 36.3%.

Turnover from auto insurance business rose 10.6% year on year to RMB 128.03 billion, and that from non-auto insurance business increased 19.2% to RMB 45.93 billion.

The Hong Kong-listed company reaped RMB 133.13 billion in insurance premium income in 2011, 8.2% more than in the previous year. Underwriting profit surged 188.3% year on year to RMB 8.02 billion in the period.

At the end of last year, PICC Property's total assets had increased 30.5% year on year to RMB 265.64 billion. Solvency adequacy ratio was 184% at the end of 2011, up 69.4 percentage points year on year.