Business
L&G Full Year Results 2018 Part 1
L&G Full Year Results 2018 Part 1.
About this update from Legal & General Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 9530R Legal & General Group Plc 06 March 2019 \n\n \n2018 results: Record £10bn annuity sales, AUM exceeds £1tn, operating profit up 10% to £1.9bn1\n \nFinancial highlights2\n· OPERATING PROFIT1 OF £1,902M, UP 10% (2017: £1,723M)\n· EARNINGS PER SHARE3 OF 24.74P, UP 7% (2017: 23.10P) - impacted by reductions in asset markets\n· RETURN ON EQUITY AT 22.7% (2017: 25.6%)\n· FULL YEAR DIVIDEND UP 7% TO 16.42P PER SHARE (2017: 15.35P)\n· PROFIT AFTER TAX4 DOWN 3% TO £1,827M (2017: £1,891M) - prior year one-off US tax benefit of £246m\n· SOLVENCY II COVERAGE RATIO5 OF 188% (2017: 189%)\n· SOLVENCY II OPERATIONAL SURPLUS GENERATION UP BY 14% TO £1.4BN (2017: £1.3BN)\nBusiness highlights\nInvesting & Annuities\n· LGR PENSION RISK TRANSFER SALES6 OF £9.1BN (2017: £3.9BN)\n· LGR INDIVIDUAL ANNUITY SALES UP 18% TO £795M (2017: £671M)\n· LGR LIFETIME MORTGAGE ADVANCES UP 19% TO £1.2BN (2017: £1.0BN)\n· GROUP-WIDE DIRECT INVESTMENT UP 34% AT £19.2BN (2017: £14.4BN)\nInvestment Management\n· LGIM AUM UP 3% AT £1,015BN (2017: £983BN)\n· LGIM EXTERNAL NET FLOWS OF £42.6BN (2017: £43.5BN)\nInsurance\n· LGI TOTAL GWP UP 3% TO £2,615M7 (2017: £2,531M8), INCLUDING US GWP OF $1,299M (2017: $1,254M)\n· GENERAL INSURANCE GWP UP 11% TO £410M (2017: £369M)\n \n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\"Legal & General's consistent strategy, market leading businesses, balance sheet strength and high quality people have enabled us to deliver eight years of compound annual profit growth of over ten percent. 2018 saw political uncertainty, asset market declines and slowing economic growth, but we are resilient and performed strongly. We became the UK's first £1 trillion investment manager, executed a record £9 billion of pension risk transfer deals and invested billions in the UK's future infrastructure and cities. Abroad, we grew US protection new business annual premiums by 12% and increased international assets by 13% to £258bn.\n \n Excluding our £433m positive mortality release, operating profit was up 10% to £1.9bn and we had EPS growth of ...