Legal & General's shares rose by more than 5 per cent after the company's first half results beat analysts' expectations with a 6 per cent rise in embedded-value operating profits to £626m. At the IFRS level, the group grew operating profits 1 per cent to £391m, although that was more than wiped out by a £422m investment loss.
Business sales were stronger during the period, but only after a solid contribution from new life and pension business, with annuity sales doubling to £178m - driven mainly by bulk annuity sales. But individual annuity sales suffered due to increased competition and fell 22 per cent to £40m. And sales of unit-linked bonds fell 45 per cent to £75m, reflecting reduced investor appetite following capital gains tax reforms. Meanwhile, sales of with-profits savings schemes picked up in the second quarter, but not enough to prevent a first-half decline in sales from £129m a year earlier to £104m. On a brighter note, self-invested personal pension (Sipp) sales rose 96 per cent to £162m after including the contribution from Suffolk Life for the first time since its acquisition in May.
for a guide to the terms used in IC results tables.
For more analysis of company results as they're released, go to www.investorschronicle.co.uk/results
| LEGAL & GENERAL (LGEN) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 102p | MARKET VALUE: | £6.06bn | |
| TOUCH: | 102-103p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 147p | LOW: 91p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 6.0% | PE RATIO: | 16 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 79p | EMBEDDED VALUE: | 131p | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Gross life premiums(£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 2.29 | 499 | 4.80 | 1.87 |
| 2008 | 3.30 | -44.0 | -0.23 | 2.01 |
| % change | +44 | - | - | +7 |
Ex-div:03 Sep Payment:1 Oct | ||||
