Link to old thread

Key facts

Legal & General is a leading UK-based financial services business, with over 10 million customers across the world.
We deliver financial solutions and services that help people to plan for their future. Our businesses help people achieve financial security by building retirement income, protecting their homes and families and enabling them to save for the future. We aim to be socially and economically useful in society, working closely with government, industry bodies and charities to help people have good housing, live healthy lives and enjoy good levels of income in retirement.

This is our social purpose: we understand people’s financial needs, pool risk and help society by reducing the pressure on public finances.

Company Website

Financial Calendar

Recent Broker notes

BarChart Indicators

Recent Market news

Legal & General's Fundamentals (LGEN)

Thanks, skinny.

New high today @252.90p_254.70p.

New highs again today @258.90 - I can't believe there isn't more interest in these!

LGEN were one of the first outfits I bought when I first started active share dabblings in the late 90's Skinny.

Usually a very stable share to own with a modest yet consistent divi, a sort of NG of the Insurance sector as far as stability is concerned.

Jan 22: Credit Suisee: Neutral - TP: 275p

Quietly making another new high today @269.70p.

And again @271.40..271.80p.

273.20p

Preliminary Results on 4th March.

Making strides now.

L&G News

Feb 17: Deutsche: Buy - TP: 290p

Feb 18
Credit Suisse: Neutral - TP: 275p
Panmure Gordon: Buy - TP: 305p

New high again 273.80p.

Well the CS Tp hit earlier - Deutsche next! :-)

Feb 24: Canaccord Genuity: Hold - TP: 240p

New high again @279.50p

Preliminary Results on 4 Mar 2015.

Q1 2015 Interim Management Statement on 6 May 2015.

L&G invests in UK private rental market

Interesting.

L&G FY 2014 Results Part 1

LEGAL & GENERAL GROUP PLC PRELIMINARY RESULTS 2014


DIVIDENDS UP 21%, ROE UP TO 17%

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS:
· NET CASH GENERATION UP 10% TO £1,104M (2013: £1,002M)
· OPERATIONAL CASH GENERATION UP 6% TO £1,101M (2013: £1,042M)
· OPERATING PROFIT UP 10% TO £1,275M (2013: £1,158M)
· PROFIT AFTER TAX UP 9% TO £992M (2013: £906M)
· EARNINGS PER SHARE UP 10% TO 16.70P (2013: 15.20P)
· RETURN ON EQUITY 16.9% (2013: 16.1%)
· FULL YEAR DIVIDEND UP 21% TO 11.25P PER SHARE (2013: 9.30p)

BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS:
· ANNUITY ASSETS UP 28% TO £44.2BN (2013: £34.4BN)
· LGIM TOTAL ASSETS UP 16% TO £708.5BN (2013: £611.6BN)
· UK PROTECTION PREMIUM UP 6% TO £1,407M (2013: £1,326M)
· SAVINGS ASSETS UP 10% TO £124.2BN (2013: £113.4BN)
· DIRECT INVESTMENTS UP TO £5.7BN (2013: £2.9BN)


Nigel Wilson, Group Chief Executive, said:

"Legal & General delivers economically and socially useful products. Our market leading growth businesses coupled with continuous cost reductions have given us scale and efficiency in our chosen markets. The five global macro trends driving our strategy - ageing populations, globalisation of asset markets, welfare reform, digital connectivity and bank retrenchment - create long term growth opportunities, which we position our businesses to capture. The rapid growth of LGIM's international business to over £100bn, the £5bn of investment in physical assets in the UK, and our entrance into the lifetime mortgage market are all examples of the successful execution of our strategy.

Over the last five years we have increased dividend per share from 3.84p to 11.25p - a nearly threefold increase. In 2014 we produced another year of double digit growth across our key financial metrics enabling us to reward shareholders with a 21% rise in the dividend."

Stuck my neck out and bought a few on the drop!

Ticking up to another high @283.70p

Very pleasing this share :-) Done OK with pru also and looking for good results Tues.

Mar 10: Morgan Stanley: Equal Weight - TP 272p (Old TP: 244p)

New high touched @290.30p

Ah, Deutsche can relax!

March 17: JP Morgan Cazenove reiterates Underweight but ups TP from 212p to 220p.

Mar 19: Societe Generale: Sell - TP: 185p

Momentum shares

Disturbing story

Mar 24: Canaccord: Hold - TP: 290p

Jefferies International Buy 284.10 284.10 282.00 323.00 Reiterates

L&G paid CEO £4.2m last year

anyone in the know why sp down by 3%+ today?

Beacause it's gone ex-dividend today.

think i'll put a plastic bag over my head so nobody recognizes me......

Apr 24: JP Morgan: Underweight - TP: 220p

Q1 2015 IMS

LEGAL & GENERAL: RECORD CASH GENERATION

GROUP HIGHLIGHTS:

· OPERATIONAL CASH GENERATION UP 11% TO £330M (Q1 2014: £297M)

· NET CASH GENERATION UP 8% TO £326M (Q1 2014: £301M)


BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS:

· LGIM TOTAL ASSETS UP 17% TO £736.8BN (Q1 2014: £630.9BN)

· ANNUITY ASSETS UP 19% TO £45.6BN (Q1 2014: £38.3BN)

· BULK PURCHASE ANNUITY PREMIUMS OF £655M (Q1 2014: £3,045M)

· UK PROTECTION PREMIUM UP 5% TO £372M (Q1 2014: £353M)

· DIGITAL SAVINGS ASSETS UP 16% TO £84.2BN (Q1 2014: £72.5BN)

· GROUP WIDE DIRECT INVESTMENT UP 62% TO £6.3BN (Q1 2014: £3.9BN)

June 29: Credit Suisse: Neutral - TP: 285p

July 10: Barclays Capital reiterates overweight on Legal & General, target raised from 285p to 289p

L&G Half-year results 2015 Part 1

OPERATING PROFIT UP 18%, NET CASH UP 11%, ROE1 19%

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS:

· NET CASH GENERATION UP 11% TO £629M (H1 2014: £567M)
· OPERATIONAL CASH GENERATION UP 8% TO £624M (H1 2014: £578M)
· OPERATING PROFIT UP 18% TO £750M (H1 2014: £636M)
· PROFIT AFTER TAX UP 8% TO £547M (H1 2014: £507M)
· EARNINGS PER SHARE UP 7% TO 9.11P (H1 2014: 8.51P)
· ADJUSTED EARNINGS PER SHARE2 UP 15% TO 9.79P (H1 2014: 8.51P)
· RETURN ON EQUITY1 19.1% (H1 2014: 17.6%)
· INTERIM DIVIDEND UP 19% TO 3.45P PER SHARE (H1 2014: 2.90P)

BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS:

· LGIM AUM UP 12% TO £714.6BN (H1 2014: £640.0BN)
· LGIM EXTERNAL NET FLOWS UP 62% TO £13.8BN (H1 2014: £8.5BN)
· ANNUITY ASSETS UP 13% TO £43.4BN (H1 2014: £38.5BN)
· BULK PURCHASE ANNUITY PREMIUMS OF £1,146M (H1 2014: £3,135M)
· UK PROTECTION PREMIUMS UP 4% TO £774M (H1 2014: £743M)
· DIRECT INVESTMENTS UP 35% TO £6.2BN (H1 2014: £4.6BN)

Berenberg Buy 270.70 270.70 290.00 310.00 Reiterates

Jefferies International Buy 250.00 245.40 288.00 301.00 Reiterates

StockMarketWire.com
Legal & General America has entered into an agreement with the US subsidiary of Royal Philips to provide retirement payments under a group annuity contract to approximately 14,000 of Philips' US retirees and other former employees, which will reduce the firm's pension obligations upon the closing of the contract in early December.

The transfer by Philips of approximately $900 million of current retiree pension obligations is being split between Legal & General America and The Prudential Insurance Company of America, with each insurer providing 50% of the total monthly benefits to Philips' retirees.

Furthermore, American United Life Insurance Company, a OneAmerica company, will be issuing annuities to plan participants who had not yet retired by May 2015, bringing the total transaction between the three insurance companies to $1.1bn and covering a total of 17,000 plan participants.

Nigel Wilson, Group CEO, Legal & General said: "We are very pleased to have signed an agreement with Philips for our first US pension group annuity contract. The US is a key market for Legal & General. We have a successful US life assurance business, are rapidly growing our investment management business, and have now entered the US pension risk transfer market. We are a leader in these markets in the UK, and plan to be a major participant in them in the US."

Interesting move by LG, does anyone know of previous track records of UK insurance outfits venturing into the States? As retail ventures have proven lousy in the past I remember.. Tesco comes to mind.

Quintain Estates and Development Plc sell 15,933,832 shares in L&G.

Profits up http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5145866

Quantum Pharma Plc go below 3%.

LEGAL & GENERAL COMPLETES SALE OF EGYPTIAN LIFE INSURANCE JOINT VENTURE TO AXA

As previously announced on the 13 July 2015, Legal & General Group plc ("Legal & General") and Commercial International Bank SAE (CIB) have today jointly announced the completion of the sale of Commercial International Life Insurance Company SAE (CIL) to AXA. Our proceeds from the sale are $54m USD.

Legal & General is disposing of non-core businesses, and focusing on core activities where we believe we can achieve significant scale and attractive returns on capital. We are in the process of disposing of Legal & General France, and have disposed of Legal & General Ireland.
- ENDS -

"Legal & General is disposing of non-core businesses, and focusing on core activities where we believe we can achieve significant scale and attractive returns on capital."

I do hope that doesn't mean putting more eggs into much fewer baskets, no they know better then that..don't they.

Broker Forecast - Barclays Capital issues a broker note on Legal & General Group PLC

BFN

Barclays Capital today reaffirms its overweight investment rating on Legal & General Group PLC (LON:LGEN) and raised its price target to 302p (from 294p).

Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For what it's worth.

A buy recky.. for what it's worth http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5190594

How dare they cut their TP!

Yeah.. the peasants -):

What a good decision IMHO http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5193694

Mark Gregory announces his intention to retire from Legal & General

Broker Forecast - Berenberg issues a broker note on Legal & General Group PLC

Berenberg today reaffirms its under review investment rating on Legal & General Group PLC (LON:LGEN) and cut its price target to 276p (from 310p).

Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So what the yearly high is 296p

The best of the insurers today @+6.7%.

Barclays Capital Overweight 224.70 298.00 298.00 Reiterates

Yes Skinny LG have been very good to me today.. get the "strength of the Insurance companies around you" -):

Stan - I paid just under a quid for these so the recent fall has been painful - but still up 125% plus dividends :-)

Yes them and the Grid are probably two of the best outfits to invest and trade in.

Agreed Stan.

L&G Full Year Results 2015 Part 1

NET CASH UP 14%, ROE1 17.7%, DIVIDENDS UP 19%

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS:

· NET CASH GENERATION UP 14% TO £1,256M (2014: £1,104M)
· OPERATING PROFIT UP 14% TO £1,455M (2014: £1,275M)
· PROFIT AFTER TAX UP 10% TO £1,094M (2014: £992M)
· ADJUSTED EARNINGS PER SHARE2 UP 11% TO 18.58P (2014: 16.70P)
· FULL YEAR DIVIDEND UP 19% TO 13.40P PER SHARE (2014: 11.25P)
· SOLVENCY II SURPLUS3 OF £5.5BN: COVERAGE RATIO OF 169%
· ECONOMIC CAPITAL SURPLUS OF £7.6BN: COVERAGE RATIO OF 230%

BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS:

· LGIM AUM UP 8% TO £746.1BN (2014: £693.7BN)
· LGIM EXTERNAL AUM NET FLOWS OF £37.7BN (2014: £7.5BN)
· LGR NEW BUSINESS OF £2.9BN (2014: £6.6BN)
· GROUP-WIDE DIRECT INVESTMENTS UP 22% TO £7.0BN (2014: £5.7BN)
· UK RETAIL PROTECTION PREMIUMS UP 5% TO £1,112M (2014: £1,056M)
· LGA PREMIUMS UP 6% TO $1,183M (2014: $1,117M)

Panmure Gordon Buy 232.45 305.00 305.00 Reiterates

JP Morgan Cazenove Underweight 236.20 206.00 216.00 Reiterates

StockMarketWire.com
Insurance group Legal & General (LON:LGEN) has been downgraded to an equal weight rating (from overweight) by Barclays Capital, with the broker cutting its price target for the stock to 200 pence per share (from 298 pence).

"We are downgrading Legal & General to EW on valuation. We are increasing our cost of equity by 300bps for Legal & General and its UK life insurance peers reflecting the increased uncertainty surrounding the UK economy and the likelihood of a recession in H1 2016 and 2017."

Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank downgraded its investment rating to hold (from buy) and cut its target price to 215 pence (from 298 pence), which it said was due to the company's exposure to current UK macro uncertainty.

I bought in at 179. Not sure if I'm going to trade or hold. Happy to hold as I like the dividend but things are going to be volatile for a while

StockMarketWire.com
Legal & General Group reports strong new business sales for its retirement division in the first half of this year, with minimal disruption caused by uncertainties over the EU referendum.

New bulk annuity transactions totalling c.£250m were executed in June.

Following the £2.9bn Aegon back-book transaction in May, this brings bulk annuity business executed in H1 2016 to £3.6bn, over £1bn ahead of the full year bulk annuity sales figure of £2.4bn for 2015.



Lifetime mortgage sales have exceeded £200m in H1 2016 meaning these too have surpassed the full year comparator for 2015, as well as being greater than our individual annuity sales in H1 2016.

Legal & General Retirement sales across bulk annuities, individual annuities and lifetime mortgages of £4bn have been achieved in H1 2016.

Managing director of Legal & General Retirement, Kerrigan Procter, said: "Political and market uncertainty around the EU Referendum did not get in the way of business, as companies or individuals will always need to manage their employees' or own retirement. Bulk annuity transactions continue to be an important way for Legal & General to deploy capital to help our UK clients, and use the premiums to invest in real assets such as UK infrastructure and direct lending."

Legal & General Retirement now provides more lifetime mortgages to its customers than individual annuities. We expect this trend to accelerate as more baby boomers retire and choose to access their housing wealth to help fund their retirement, instead of buying an individual annuity.

CEO of Legal & General Home Finance, Bernie Hickman, added: "Legal & General entered the lifetime mortgage market last year. Our lowest interest rate on lifetime mortgages is now below 5%, and we have recently been awarded Lifetime Mortgage Lender of the year. We have seen rapid growth, and within a year of entering the lifetime mortgage market, now provide more lifetime mortgages to our customers than individual annuities. Individual annuities still have their place, but customers want more choice in how they fund their retirement, with accessing housing wealth being an attractive option for asset rich, income poor retirees."

Panmure Gordon Buy 211.35 305.00 305.00 Reiterates

On these from 188.

They don't like the results today. Interim dividend up nicely so I'm sticking around for the yield

CC
Also holding.

LEGAL & GENERAL TO SELL COFUNDS AND IPS TO AEGON

Legal & General Group Plc ("Legal & General") has today announced the sale of Cofunds, the UK's leading investment platform for advisers and other financial institutions, to Aegon for £140m. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval, which is expected by December 2016. The sale includes the Investor Portfolio Service ("IPS") platform as well as Cofunds' retail and institutional business. All employees in Cofunds and IPS will be transitioned to Aegon.

Legal & General and Aegon have worked closely this year in delivering three mutually beneficial transactions: the acquisition of Aegon's £2.9bn back book annuity portfolio, the 5 year distribution agreement to provide individual annuities to Aegon pension customers, and the acquisition of Cofunds and IPS by Aegon.

Mark Gregory, Group Chief Financial Officer of Legal & General, said:

"Over the last few years Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) has developed a market leading international defined contribution pension platform business. LGIM manages £50bn in UK and US defined contribution pension assets, and plans to expand into the DC market of Asia. Cofunds is at the point where it requires a significant upgrade in technology to exploit its leadership position in the UK platform market. We have concluded that this long term commitment is best achieved under Aegon's ownership as a specialist wealth platform provider."

The sale of Cofunds and IPS to Aegon does not impact Legal & General's relationship with Nationwide, the UK's largest building society.

Legal & General's Solvency II surplus, as at the 30 June 2016, was estimated at £5.3bn. The sale of Cofunds will increase the Solvency II surplus by £125m, and its Economic Capital surplus by £105m.

RBC Capital Markets Outperform 212.25 300.00 300.00 Reiterates

Rolls-Royce Buyout: Legal & General completes largest pension buyout of 2016 with £1.1 billion Vickers Group Pension Scheme

Legal & General Group Plc ("Legal & General") today announced it has completed a £1.1 billion pension buyout for the Vickers Group Pension Scheme, part of the Rolls-Royce Group, covering over 11,000 members.

Legal & General Retirement sales year to date are £6.7 billion, with £6.3 billion in annuities and £0.4 billion in lifetime mortgages. The decrease in the Group's Solvency II surplus from new business regulatory capital strain is expected to be less than £200m (circa 3% of premiums) for business year to date.

Kerrigan Procter, Managing Director of Legal & General Retirement, said:

"We look forward to welcoming the 11,000 members of the Vickers Group Pension Scheme to Legal & General. We are pleased to have worked closely with the Scheme Trustees, their advisers Mercer, and the Rolls-Royce Group to achieve a full buyout. Our relationship with the Trustees has been a long-standing one, starting in 2007 with an LDI mandate to de-risk the Scheme and now culminating in a full buyout. We are grateful for being able to play a part as the Trustees, with patient and careful management, steered their way through the financial crisis, recession, the consequences of QE and latterly the outcome of the EU referendum before reaching the point where buyout was appropriate and achievable for all Scheme members."

Joel Griffin, Head of Pensions at Rolls-Royce said:

"This is a great testimony to the work of the Trustees and the Company working collaboratively over many years to ensure that this scheme is well funded with a prudent investment strategy to enable this excellent outcome for former Vickers employees."

ends

LEGAL & GENERAL TO SELL LEGAL & GENERAL NETHERLANDS TO CHESNARA PLC

Legal & General Group Plc ("Legal & General") has reached agreement in principle with Chesnara plc ("Chesnara") to sell Legal & General Nederland Levensverzekering Maatschappij N.V. ("Legal & General Netherlands") to Chesnara for €160 million. The sale of the business is expected to marginally improve the group coverage ratio, and be for a small IFRS profit.
Mark Gregory, Group Chief Financial Officer, Legal & General said: "Our strategy is focused on having scalable businesses in growth markets. As a consequence, over the last two years, we have disposed of a number of operations we no longer regard as core, including our Irish, French, Egyptian and Gulf businesses, and now we are doing the same with our Dutch business. We have also disposed of the Suffolk Life SIPP business in the UK and agreed a sale of Cofunds."

John Deane, Chief Executive Officer, Chesnara plc said: "Chesnara is delighted to be acquiring another well-run and attractive business in the Dutch life assurance market. As with our Swedish subsidiary Movestic, we will be writing protection and pension policies. This will complement our closed block consolidation business Waard. We see great opportunities for both organisations within the Chesnara group to deliver value to our customers, their advisors and our shareholders."

Legal & General Netherlands' Works Council (ondernemingsraad) has been asked for advice on the transaction, as required under Dutch law. The transaction is subject to the signing of a definitive agreement and the approval of regulatory authorities.

Legal & General Netherlands is headquartered in Hilversum, Netherlands. It was established in 1984, and Pieter Glas has been CEO since April 2016. It is a leading player in adviser-led risk and investment-linked products, sold through independent financial advisers, serving high-end affluent customers. It also has an established defined contribution group pension platform focused on Dutch SMEs. It has over 170,000 policyholders, funds under management are €2.2 billion, and it wrote gross written premiums of £25 million at H1 in 2016.

ends

LEGAL & GENERAL COMPLETES THE SALE OF COFUNDS AND IPS TO AEGON

As previously notified on the 11th August 2016, Legal & General Group plc ("Legal & General") has today announced the completion of the sale of Cofunds and IPS to Aegon.

This is the third transaction completed with Aegon by Legal & General. These transactions are the acquisition of Aegon's £2.9 billion annuity back book, the 5 year individual annuity distribution agreement for Aegon pension customers with Legal & General, and the acquisition of Cofunds and IPS by Aegon.

Legal & General's strategy is focused on scalable businesses in growth markets, where it can deliver attractive returns on capital. Legal & General has developed a market leading, scalable, international define contribution business. As Cofunds is at a point it requires significant upgrade in technology to exploit its leadership position, its long-term ownership and growth potential are best achieved under the ownership of a specialist wealth platform provider.


ends

Full Year Results 2016 Part 1

EPS1 UP 19% TO 22.2P, PROFIT BEFORE TAX2 UP 17% TO £1.6BN

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS3:
· NET RELEASE FROM OPERATIONS (NET CASH)4 UP 12% TO £1,411M (2015: £1,256M)
· ADJUSTED OPERATING PROFIT5 UP 11% TO £1,628M (2015: £1,463M)
· PROFIT AFTER TAX UP 16% TO £1,265M (2015: £1,094M)
· EARNINGS PER SHARE UP 17% TO 21.22P (2015: 18.16P)
· ADJUSTED EARNINGS PER SHARE1 UP 19% TO 22.20P (2015: 18.58P)
· FULL YEAR DIVIDEND UP 7% TO 14.35P PER SHARE (2015: 13.40P)
· ADJUSTED RETURN ON EQUITY6 19.6% (2015: 17.7%)
· SOLVENCY II SURPLUS OF £5.7BN (2015: £5.5BN)
· SOLVENCY II COVERAGE RATIO OF 171% (2015: 176%), SHAREHOLDER BASIS7

BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS:
· LGR NEW BUSINESS OF £8.5BN (2015: £2.9BN)
· LGR ANNUITY ASSETS UP 25% AT £54.4BN (2015: £43.4BN)
· GROUP-WIDE DIRECT INVESTMENT UP 39% AT £10.0BN (2015: £7.2BN)
· LGIM AUM UP 20% AT £894.2BN (2015: £746.1BN)

Nigel Wilson, Group Chief Executive, said:

"Our long term approach to strategy and investment coupled with outstanding execution has again delivered terrific financial performance in 2016. Profit before tax up 17% to £1.6 billion, net release from operations up 12% to £1.4 billion, EPS up 19% at 22.2p and a return on equity of nearly 20%.
We believe the UK remains a great place for us to help fill the huge funding gaps and under-provision of key financial products. We are playing our part to regenerate the UK's cities, delivering economic growth and jobs, capitalise on its world-leading universities and improve commercialisation of its scientific discoveries. Additionally, we are accelerating the evolution of our US businesses.
We look forward to the future with confidence as our core markets are growing, our market share is increasing, our balance sheet is strong and we have positive cash and earnings momentum. Through a combination of selective hiring and internal promotions we have significantly strengthened our management team and technology capability".
Sir John Kingman, Chairman, said:
"Legal & General has a strong management team and formidable further potential. Against that backdrop, the Board has considered the best trajectory of dividend growth, taking into account sustainability across a wide range of economic scenarios and the Group's anticipated financial performance. Accordingly, the Board has recommended an increase in the full year 2016 dividend of 7%".

1. Adjusted earnings per share is calculated by dividing profit after tax attributable to equity holders of the Company, by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the period. This excludes a £60m net loss on disposals being a £64m impairment loss in relation to the disposal of Cofunds and a £4m profit in relation to the disposal of Suffolk Life (2015: £25m net loss in relation to the disposals of Legal & General France, Legal & General Gulf, Legal & General Egypt and Legal & General International (Ireland)).
2. Represents profit before tax attributable to equity holders.
3. The metrics within the Group's financial highlights are defined in the glossary, which includes Alternative Performance Measures, on pages 89 to 92 to this report.
4. Net release from operations has replaced the term Net cash generation. There is no change in how it is determined.
5. Adjusted operating profit is calculated as operating profit of £1,562m (2015: £1,455m) before taking account of the provision in respect of the closure of our Kingswood office of £66m (2015: £8m).
6. Adjusted return on equity is calculated by taking profit after tax attributable to equity holders of the Company, excluding the £60m net loss on disposals (2015: £25m net loss) described in note 1, divided by the average shareholders' equity during the period.
7. Solvency II coverage ratio on a shareholder basis is adjusted for the Own Funds and SCR of the With-profits fund and the final salary pension schemes.


more.....

"Terrific" results again from this lot.

Yep, all good and encouraging. Staying in for the div as well as the potential sp strength.

And yet the SP has dropped today!

No more then a case of sell on the news queen1.

RBC Capital Markets Outperform 247.75 310.00 310.00 Reiterates

Credit Suisse Underperform 247.75 - 215.00 Initiates/Starts

Took profits before going ex div this year for a change.

Solvency update http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5552030

HSBC Buy 260.10 290.00 290.00 Retains

Barclays Capital Overweight 259.05 280.00 280.00 Reiterates

JP Morgan Cazenove Underweight 259.05 197.00 197.00 Reiterates

Deutsche Bank Hold 259.05 255.00 255.00 Reiterates

Results on the 9th, ex-dividend on the 17th.

Div payment date likely to be 21st Sept. my est about 4.6p.

I'm about 30% up on my initial outlay from a year ago of a £10k so all looking good

L&G Half-year Report 2017 Part 1

STRONG FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE IN H1 2017: PROFIT BEFORE TAX1 UP 41% TO £1.2BN

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS2:
· OPERATING PROFIT UP 27% TO £988M (H1 2016: £777M)
· PROFIT AFTER TAX UP 43% TO £952M (H1 2016: £667M)
· EARNINGS PER SHARE UP 41% TO 15.94P (H1 2016: 11.27P)
· INTERIM DIVIDEND3 OF 4.30P PER SHARE (H1 2016: 4.00P)
· NET RELEASE FROM OPERATIONS FOR RETAINED BUSINESS4 UP 6% TO £724M (H1 2016:


£681M)
· RETURN ON EQUITY5 OF 26.7% (H1 2016: 20.6%)
· SOLVENCY II SURPLUS6 INCREASED BY £1.0BN TO £6.7BN (FY 2016: £5.7BN)
· SOLVENCY II COVERAGE RATIO6 OF 186% (FY 2016: 171%)
· H1 2017 RESULTS INCLUDE BASE MORTALITY RELEASE7 OF £126M
BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS:
· LGR PRT8 NEW ANNUITY BUSINESS OF £1.6BN (H1 2016: £0.7BN)
· LGR RETAIL9 TOTAL SALES UP 98% TO £769M (H1 2016: £389M)
· LGIM AUM UP 13% AT £951.1BN (H1 2016: £841.5BN)
· LGIM EXTERNAL NET INFLOWS OF £21.7BN (H1 2016: £9.6BN)
· GROUP-WIDE DIRECT INVESTMENT UP 48% AT £11.8BN (H1 2016: £8.0BN)
· LGI GROSS PREMIUMS UP 6% TO £1,338M (H1 2016: £1,260M)

Nigel Wilson, Group Chief Executive, said:
"L&G delivered 41% growth in EPS to 15.9p, 41% growth in profit before tax to £1.2 billion and a 26.7% Return on Equity. This includes a base mortality release of £126m as part of our review of longevity assumptions. Our consistently improving financial performance is due to: investing for the long term in our market leading businesses, excellent execution by my colleagues and delivering value for customers.
Our strategy, based around six long term macro and demographic growth drivers, not only allows us to grow L&G's business, but also the scale of our long term capital enables us to support inclusive growth across the UK. We are replicating our successful UK model with measured expansion in the US, where we are experiencing increasing customer acceptance and an ever improving financial performance.
Our business model has proven to be resilient to political, economic and regulatory uncertainties. We are not being complacent as we recognise that there are currently some structural weaknesses in the UK economy. Notwithstanding this we have tremendous momentum across our business, a strong AA- rated balance sheet and increasing access to global growth opportunities, therefore we remain confident in our ability to deliver growth."

more.....

Excellent news today and topped yesterday and again today for the div and also the sp growth likely.. all looking good imvho!

And yet the SP is down today. You'd have thought that with these results and the increase in the dividend they'd have bucked the general market trend.

The whole sector is under preforming today.

Legal & General's first half profits supported by slowing life expectancy but shares fall

Macquarie Underperform 274.35 201.00 218.00 Reiterates

Societe Generale Hold 274.35 250.00 250.00 Reiterates

Barclays Capital Overweight 274.35 - - Reiterates

Legal & General on track for a record year in 2017

Legal & General Group Plc ("L&G") today updates on its trading performance.

L&G continues to see great momentum in all its businesses in the year to date and has experienced particularly strong growth in recent weeks. We remain strategically well placed to deliver strong, attractive growth and returns in our core markets.

Legal & General Retirement ("LGR") has delivered total sales for 2017 to date1 of £6.2bn, with the business showing strong momentum in the UK and US institutional pension risk transfer markets, as well as in individual annuities and lifetime mortgages.

Annuity sales generated £4.5bn of annuity premium, consisting of: £3.3bn of UK institutional pension risk transfer business, $0.7bn of US institutional pension risk transfer business and £0.6bn of UK retail annuities. We have doubled our institutional pension risk transfer business in the US versus 2016 and have now written over $1.6bn of US business since entering the market. LGR sales for 2017 to date also include £0.8bn of longevity insurance.

We have significantly outperformed the market in the retail space, with UK individual annuity premiums up 93%, equivalent to a 14% market share. We have written over £0.9bn of lifetime mortgage advances, an increase of 71%, and our innovative, digital lifetime mortgage business now has a leading 35% market share.

Our UK and US pipeline for pension risk transfer is the largest it has ever been. Additionally we expect the UK's ageing demographic and extensive use of cash drawdowns to make the lifetime mortgage market increasingly attractive.

Legal & General Investment Management ("LGIM") achieved total external net inflows of £38.1bn to the end of October. Inflows were well-diversified by product line and geography. Our liability driven investments ("LDI"), active fixed and property funds delivered strong performances, and LGIM continues to be the market leader in defined benefit and defined contribution solutions in the UK, and a global market leader in LDI.

By the end of October, International net inflows were £26.1bn, with £11.3bn from the US and, encouragingly, a further £10.9bn from Europe. Our US asset management business continues to deliver with over 330 institutional clients and over $170bn of assets. We have established our regional office in Tokyo to complement our capabilities in Hong Kong, and LGIM's recently-announced entry into the European ETF market will provide access to one of the fastest growing segments in asset management.

Legal & General Capital ("LGC") has generated £256m of gross proceeds from transactions with a gross value of £821m to the end of October and has committed and invested £319m to new investments as it continues to recycle investments into new strategic UK real asset opportunities. Our investment programme in housing, urban regeneration, clean energy and scale-ups continues to make good progress. Since October, LGC has also announced the acquisition of its second later living business, Renaissance Villages, for a net purchase price of £51m, and the acquisition of a second major housing site, Arborfield in Berkshire, with capacity and planning consent for 1,500 units.

Legal & General Insurance ("LGI") continued to benefit from our strong market shares in UK retail protection and US term assurance with total gross written premiums to the end of October up 6%2 to £2.1bn. The management actions taken to address the adverse claims experience reported in our Group Protection business in H1 2017 are becoming evident and experience is improving in line with management expectation, and the first half losses have been completely reversed in H2.

General Insurance ("GI") gross written premiums are up 13% to £305m by the end of October. We continue to increase our direct to consumer sales, have launched our market leading digitally innovative SmartQuote proposition and we have been successful in winning further distribution agreements for our household products. In October we agreed to acquire Buddies, a pet insurance provider, which will enable us to further diversify our product range in GI. Following our adverse claims experience in the first quarter of the year, we took management action which has mitigated the ongoing impact of claims on the GI result.

Our business growth is supported by a strong balance sheet with a Solvency II surplus of c.£6.9bn and a shareholder coverage ratio of 190%3.


Nigel Wilson, CEO, commented:

"L&G is on track for a record year for earnings and profits. Our core business divisions are generating formidable momentum. With yesterday's announcement of the sale of our closed book, in run-off Mature Savings business for £650m, our business is now well-positioned and focused on the products and geographies where we see optimum growth and cultural alignment. Our market leading positions and strong balance sheet, coupled with our management capability is allowing us to benefit from global growth opportunities."




1. At 6 Dec 2017

2. Increase versus 31 October 2016. LGI comparison excludes disposed business (L&G Netherlands).

3. At the end of October, the Group's estimated Solvency II surplus was c.£6.9bn with Eligible Own Funds of c.£14.6bn, a Solvency Capital Requirement ("SCR") of c.£7.7bn and a shareholder basis coverage ratio of 190%. In line with our practice, this assumes that Transitional Measures for Technical Provisions are recalculated to current market conditions, as we believe this provides the most up to date and meaningful view of our Solvency II position. The shareholder basis adjusts for the Own Funds and SCR attributable to our With-profits fund and the final salary pension scheme. Legal & General Group's core subsidiaries are rated AA- by Standard & Poors

ends

Shore Capital Buy 263.30 - - Reiterates

JP Morgan Cazenove Underweight 263.30 218.00 218.00 Reiterates

HL's take.

Final Results tomorrow - Wednesday 7th.

L&G Full Year Results 2017 Part 1

CONTINUING STRONG PERFORMANCE IN 2017: EPS1 31.9P, RETURN ON


EQUITY 25.6%

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS2:

· OPERATING PROFIT UP 32% TO £2,055M (2016: £1,562M)
· PROFIT BEFORE TAX3 UP 32% TO £2,090M (2016: £1,582M)
· PROFIT AFTER TAX UP 50% TO £1,902M (2016: £1,265M)
· FULL YEAR DIVIDEND UP 7% TO 15.35P PER SHARE (2016: 14.35P)
· 2017 RESULTS INCLUDE MORTALITY RELEASE4 OF £332M
· OPERATING PROFIT FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS5 EXCLUDING MORTALITY RELEASE UP 12%
TO £1,616M (2016: £1,447M)
· NET RELEASE FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS5 UP 9% TO £1,352M (2016: £1,242M)
· ONE-OFF US TAX BENEFIT6 OF £246M
· SOLVENCY II COVERAGE RATIO7 OF 189% (2016: 171%)
· SOLVENCY II NET SURPLUS GENERATION OF £1.2BN (2016: £1.1BN)
BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS:

· PRT8 AND INDIVIDUAL ANNUITY NEW BUSINESS OF £4.6BN (2016: £4.1BN)
· LIFETIME MORTGAGE ADVANCES OF £1.0BN (2016: £0.6BN)
· LGIM EXTERNAL NET FLOWS UP 49% AT £43.5BN (2016: £29.2BN)
· LGIM AUM UP 10% AT £983.3BN (2016: £894.2BN)
· GROUP-WIDE DIRECT INVESTMENT UP 44% AT £14.4BN (2016: £10.0BN)
· LGI GROSS PREMIUMS UP 5% TO £2.5BN (2016: £2.4BN)

more.....

Disappointingly muted market response to a fantastic set of results, bullish forward predictions and a 7% increase in the dividend.

L&G has taken full control of fast-growing upmarket builder Cala Homes paving the way for it to become a major UK housing delivery business.

The insurance and investment group has paid £315m to acquire the 52% of Cala it does not already own.

This involves buying out its fellow major shareholder, the property investor Patron Capital, and Cala’s management team in a deal that values the firm at £605m.


I don't like this. I think L&G should stick to what it knows.

have sold previous @ 270 will buy back 218 paid to much for cala will impact
on 2018 year. BB

26p div today.

11.05p final.

ex div today. Money arrives drekly

Oops. I must have total divs logged.

Just for clarity (as in the link in the header) :-

Ex dividend date was yesterday 26th April @11.05p.

Today (27th) is the record date.

7 Jun 2018 payment of final dividend for 2017 (to members registered on 27 April 2018)

Citigroup Buy 269.95 306.00 308.00 Reiterates

Dallying with the 50DMA.

L&G Half-year Report 2018 Part 1

H1 2018: Consistent delivery of growth from divisions

Financial highlights

· OPERATING PROFIT1 FROM DIVISIONS2 UP 7% TO £1,059M (H1 2017: £994M), increases in 5 out of 6 businesses since H1 2017

· OPERATING PROFIT1 OF £909M, up 5% (H1 2017: £862m excluding mortality release) after increased investment in the business

· EARNINGS PER SHARE3 DOWN 8% TO 13.00P (H1 2017: 14.19P), impacted by financial markets

· PROFIT AFTER TAX DOWN 19% TO £772M (H1 2017: £952M)

· RETURN ON EQUITY1 AT 20.3% (H1 2017: 26.7%)

· INTERIM DIVIDEND4 OF 4.60P PER SHARE (H1 2017: 4.30P)

· SOLVENCY II COVERAGE RATIO5 OF 193% (H1 2017: 186%)

· SOLVENCY II OPERATIONAL SURPLUS GENERATION UP BY 11% TO £0.7BN (H1 2017: £0.6BN)

Business highlights

Investing & Annuities

· LGR ANNUITY SALES OF £1.1BN6 (H1 2017: £2.0BN)

· LGR LIFETIME MORTGAGE ADVANCES UP 23% TO £0.5BN (H1 2017: £0.4BN)

· GROUP-WIDE DIRECT INVESTMENT UP 38% AT £16.3BN (H1 2017: £11.8BN)

Investment Management

· LGIM AUM UP 4% AT £984.8BN (H1 2017: £951.1BN)

· LGIM EXTERNAL NET FLOWS OF £14.6BN (H1 2017: £21.7BN), US FLOWS $11.5BN (H1 2017: $10.8BN)

Insurance

· LGI GROSS WRITTEN PREMIUMS UP 3% TO £1.4BN6 (H1 2017: £1.3BN)

· GENERAL INSURANCE GROSS WRITTEN PREMIUMS UP 12% TO £193M (H1 2017: £173M)

"Legal & General again delivered consistent, positive results with five of our six businesses increasing their operating profits for the first half of 2018. Operating profit from divisions increased 7% to £1.1 billion and RoE was 20.3%. However, a reduction in positive investment variance meant earnings per share were down from 14.19p to 13.00p. We have increased our dividend to 4.60p, in line with our formulaic approach, an increase of 7%.

We expect to have an exceptionally busy H2. We are currently actively quoting on over £20bn of UK pension risk transfer deals, including over £7bn of transactions in exclusive negotiations expected to close in H2. We are reviewing our long term mortality assumptions and expect to make a full year release in H2 which will be larger than the £332m released for full year 2017. LGIM's momentum continues as it expands in the United States and extends its global footprint in Asia. LGC is accelerating UK investment through its "Changing Britain" programme which reflects growing regional devolution. We are confident that Legal & General is strongly positioned for growth in H2 and beyond."

Nigel Wilson, Group Chief Executive


1. The Alternative Performance Measures within the Group's financial highlights are defined in the glossary, on pages 99 to 104 of this report.

2. Represents operating profit from divisions and excludes mortality reserve releases (H1 2018: £nil, H1 2017: £126m). H1 2017 release reflects changes to LGR's base mortality assumptions.

3. Excluding mortality reserve releases (H1 2018: £nil, H1 2017: £126m).

4. A formulaic approach is used to set the interim dividend, being 30% of the prior year full year dividend.

5. Solvency II coverage ratio on a shareholder basis is adjusted for the Own Funds and SCR of the With-profits fund and the final salary pension schemes.

6. Constant FX rate comparisons have been calculated by applying the average FX rates for H1 2017 to both H1 2017 and H1 2018 local currency results. Actual FX rate comparisons apply the H1 17 and H1 18 average FX rates to the equivalent periods' results respectively.

more.....

Numis Add 261.05 305.00 - Retains

Shore Capital Under Review 261.05 - - Under Review

Invesco add a few http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=6109625

Legal & General completes £2.4 billion buyout with Nortel Networks UK Pension Plan

Legal & General Assurance Society Limited ("Legal & General") today announces that it has completed a £2.4 billion buyout for the Nortel Networks UK Pension Plan, ("The Plan"), covering around 15,500 pensioner members and around 7,200 deferred members.

The Plan's sponsor went into administration in 2009 and the Plan entered a Pension Protection Fund ("PPF") assessment period, where it has remained whilst insolvency proceedings were on-going. With these proceedings now resolved, the Plan has been able to secure benefits in excess of PPF levels and will exit the PPF having secured the buyout with Legal & General.

The financial metrics and Solvency II capital strain of this transaction are in line with previous levels reported by Legal & General.

Nigel Wilson, Chief Executive, Legal & General Group, said:

“This transaction brings our total volume for global pension de-risking business to more than £8.4 billion for the year to date, a new record for us. Legal & General’s UK pipeline is stronger than we have ever seen, with £25 billion currently in active pricing discussions following the completion of the Nortel buyout. Our international pipeline is also the strongest we have ever experienced.

The Nortel transaction illustrates the diverse range of situations to which buy-ins and buyouts can provide solutions to enhance outcomes for members, scheme sponsors and in this case the PPF: as the PRT market grows in volume, we also expect it to grow in diversity."

Laura Mason, CEO Legal & General Retirement Institutional, said:

"We are pleased to have been able to deliver this significant transaction which provides flexibility and greater financial security to the members of the Nortel Networks UK Pension Plan.

The collaborative relationship built up with KPMG and the Trustee, working closely together, enabled us to deliver a complex solution to meet the needs of the Trustee and Plan members, whilst delivering to tight timescales.

This transaction continues to demonstrate our solutions driven proposition, while providing wider benefits for the pension environment and the UK economy as we deliver further direct investments."



ENDS

Another ugly chart.

Chairman purchases for his ISA https://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=6299409