BEIJING, Dec. 5 (InfoChina) – Citibank has degraded the rating of China Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (NYSE: LFC, HK: 2628) from “hold” to “sell”, claiming that the market has impractical expectation on its business growth and the profits generated from potential investment opportunities.
As the largest insurance company in the Chinese mainland, China Life’s H-share price has soared by 173.87 percent this year, far higher than the 25.72 percent rise of Hang Seng index in the corresponding period.
The H-share price of China Life fell by 0.95 percent on Dec. 4 to close at 18.72 Hong Kong dollars.
Despite the degraded rating for China Life, Citibank raised its H-share target price from 14.8 Hong Kong dollars per to 16 Hong Kong dollars per share, to reflect its stable market presence.
Meanwhile, Citibank raised its expectation on the company’s profits in the three years from 2006 to 2008 by 11-13 percent to 14.385 billion, 18.32 billion and 22.734 billion yuan respectively.
China Life’s revenue from insurance premium rose by 18 percent in the first ten months of this year to 160 billion yuan. Its net profits in the first half year surged by 72 percent year on year to 8.97 billion yuan. (Edited by Sun Huanjie,
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China Stock News 
