By P.R. Venkat

China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co. said the value of its new business fell nearly 25% in the first half as Covid-19 curbs hit business.

New-business value dropped to 11.23 billion yuan ($1.62 billion), while its new-business margin slipped two percentage points to 37.0%, the insurer said late Sunday.

Net profit during the period was down 12% at CNY14.24 billion, the company said.

"The Covid-19 pandemic was a major disruption to the traditional operational mode of the agency channel, such as offline marketing, recruitment and basic management activity," China Pacific said.

The company it plans to restructure its sales force to focus on ultra-high-performing agents and push for digital integration to strengthen customer acquisition. 



  Write to P.R. Venkat at venkat.pr@wsj.com