Standard Life boosted by pension sales
Standard Life announced soaring first-half profits yesterday as it increased pension sales worldwide.
Operating profit at the Edinburgh based insurer rose 51 per cent to £535m in the first half, fuelled by pension sales and the transfer of £6.7bn of annuity liabilities to Canada Life International Reinsurance.
Worldwide life and pensions new sales rose 5 per cent to £9.1bn on a present value of new business premiums basis, with a £7.2bn figure for sales in the UK remaining stable. New business profits in the insurer’s UK life and pensions operation climbed 4 per cent to £138m.
The group also took steps to reduce its mortgage exposure, reducing gross mortgage lending by 54 per cent to £728m. The number of arrears was also low, at 0.24 per cent, comfortably below the industry average.
But the group did see life and pensions sales in the UK begin to fall after a spike caused by A-day, the simplification of pension rules introduced in April 2006.
Life and pensions inflows in the UK, where Standard Life does threequarters of its business, fell 3 per cent to £1.4bn. Income from Europe also fell slightly, although higher inflows from Canada provided some relief, increasing nine-fold, to £304m.
Group chief executive Sandy Crombie said the insurer was raising its interim dividend payment by 7 per cent, based on a confident outlook for the second half of 2008.
“Our innovative product set, excellence in customer service and strong distribution relationships leave us well placed for the full year,” he said in a statement.
