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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.

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Legal & General's Fundamentals (LGEN)

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

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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