Standard Life managed to push underlying profits up from £154m to £291m in the period, despite struggling against tough trading conditions. Indeed, assets under administration rose 13 per cent to £177.6bn, with most of the earnings improvement having come from a positive return on the book - the previous year's £14.2bn investment loss was turned into a £13.2bn return. Moreover, there was a £4.5bn net inflow of funds, although this was held back by a £2bn net outflow relating to provisions on the mortgage book.
However, on a European embedded value basis - which includes an element of projected premium income - the core element of operating profits fell 15 per cent to £584m, as the expected return from the group's in-force business fell from £431m to £375m. UK markets remained especially challenging, with the value of new business falling 10 per cent to £10.18bn - reflecting, to a large extent, a decline in savings and investments.
Prior to these figures, Keefe Bruyette & Woods was expecting pre-tax profits of £226m for 2010, giving EPS of 13.5p.
STANDARD LIFE (SL.) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 204p | MARKET VALUE: | £4.56bn | |
| TOUCH: | 203-204p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 237p | LOW: 124p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 6.0% | PE RATIO: | 26 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 155p | EMBEDDED VALUE: | 288p | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Gross premiums (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 3.51* | 614 | na | nil |
| 2006 | 3.96* | 810 | 13.5 | 5.40 |
| 2007 | 3.73 | 620 | 21.7 | 11.5 |
| 2008 | 3.56 | -406 | 6.90 | 11.8 |
| 2009 | 3.56 | 419 | 7.80 | 12.2 |
| % change | - | +3 | +13 | +4 |
Ex-div: 17 Mar Payment: 28 May *Net premiums | ||||
