Prudential Mid Year Review: Business Segments In Focus

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) operates three major businesses: U.S. retirement solutions, U.S. life insurance and group insurance, and international insurance solutions. The U.S. retirement solutions business consists of three sub-divisions: individual annuities, retirement and asset management. The company primarily earns revenue from fees charged on the basis of account values from these product lines, which are driven both by sales and market movements. Prudential is the ninth-largest seller of individual annuities in the U.S., with a market share of 3.9%, and the fourth-largest seller of variable annuities, with a market share of close to 8%. ^[1] The table below provides a breakdown of the company’s performance by segment so far this year. 

In the U.S. retirement solutions business, operating income for the individual annuities segment declined 30% year-over-year to $755 million in the first six months of 2016, which contributed 48% of the division’s operating income. This decline in operating income was primarily impacted by a 11.6 percentage point decline in operating margins. Despite the decline, individual annuities had the highest segment margins in this division at 34%, compared to 11% and 26% for the retirement and asset management segments, respectively.

The retirement segment offers retirement income products and services to employers in the U.S. During the first half of 2016, operating income from this segment declined by 13% y-o-y to $455 million, driven by lower investment returns as well as higher expenses. However, as Prudential continues to make a slew of pension risk transfer deals, we expect the business to see some growth going forward.

U.S. Life & Group Insurance

Total revenues from the U.S. Life and Group Insurance business grew 2% in the first half of 2016, led by better sales in group insurance products. However, operating income from the division was down by 112%, primarily due to lower operating margins in the individual life business, partially offset by gains in the group insurance line.

International Operations

Prudential has established operations in 20 countries across regions of America, Asia Pacific and EMEA. The company reported adjusted operating income of $1.6 billion during the first six months of 2016 compared to $1.7 billion in the same period last year. A sizable portion of the company’s international premiums come from operations in Japan, where earnings were impacted by foreign currency fluctuations.

Please refer to our complete analysis for Prudential Financial here.

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1. U.S. Individual Annuities Sales, LIMRA, Q2 2016 [↩]