PICC Property and Casualty (2328.HK) recorded a near doubling in first half 2011 net profit to 5.288 billion yuan, reports China Business News, citing a company filing.

Profit from its underwriting business hit 4.936 billion yuan, up 157 percent year-on-year. The gross margin of this business was up from 3.3 percent year-on-year to 7.5 percent.

PICC Property and Casualty posted a 12.03 percent rise in revenue to 91.444 billion yuan in the first half.

Premium income from the automobile insurance business rose 9.3 percent year-on-year to 64.33 billion yuan, while premium income from liability insurance increased 14.9 percent to 3.536 billion yuan.

Premium income from accident insurance was up 36 percent to 2.896 billion yuan, while premium income from cargo transportation insurance rose 13.3 percent to 2.256 billion yuan.

The solvency margin of PICC Property and Casualty was 32.21 billion yuan as of end June, while its solvency ratio hit 159 percent.

Total assets and net assets in the first half increased to 260.784 billion yuan and 30.593 billion yuan, respectively.

The asset-to-liability ratio was 80.9 percent during the reporting period, up 0.9 percent.

During the reporting period, net claims rose 12.3 percent to 42.784 billion yuan, with the claim ratio down 1.2 percentage points to 64.9 percent.

PICC Property and Casualty announced plans to pay dividends of 0.225 yuan per share held.

The executive vice president of PICC Property and Casualty, Wang He, said the distribution of dividends will not affect the company’s solvency.