By Sabela Ojea

Prudential PLC said Thursday that it is confident for long-term growth despite reporting a significant fall in its Asian market in the first quarter of 2020 amid the coronavirus.

The insurance-and-investment business added that the preparations for its U.S. Jackson business minority initial public offering continue, but that it is also taking into consideration other options for the U.S. arm.

Regarding its financial performance, the company said that total Asia APE sales for the first quarter of 2020 decreased 24% to $986 million and that it seeks to halt trading in Singapore. However, it added that sales outside Hong Kong and China rose 1%.

"We continue to see a challenging sales environment in the second quarter of 2020 as social-distancing measures are stepped up in other Asian markets," Chief Executive Mike Wells said.

U.S. APE sales increased 25% compared with the year-earlier period, the company said, noting that Africa's APE sales grew 43% to $30 million.

Shares at 0845 GMT were down 42.00 pence, or 3.9%, at 1,049.00 pence.

Write to Sabela Ojea at sabela.ojea@wsj.com; @sabelaojeaguix

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 14, 2020 05:04 ET (09:04 GMT)

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