Prudential's Pretax Profit Rises 19% as Asia Life Sales Grow

Prudential Plc, the U.K.’s largest insurer, said full-year earnings climbed 19 percent, boosted by rising life-insurance sales in Asia. The shares rose.

Pretax profit rose to 3.15 billion pounds ($4.5 billion) on a constant-currency basis from 2.6 billion pounds a year earlier, the London-based company said in a statement Wednesday. The insurer’s Solvency II capital ratio rose to 193 percent from 190 percent reported in January. The dividend is 38.78 pence a share, and the company will also pay a special dividend of 10 pence, the first since 1970, it said.