M&G plc (MNG) Q2 2024 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning and welcome to M&G PLC's Half-Year Financial Results. I will now transfer you over to Luca Gagliardi, Director of Investor Relations, to begin. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to M&G's 2024 Half Year Results. Thanks for those joining through the webcast and those in person here in the room. Today, we're going to go through a brief presentation with Andrea Rossi, our CEO, and Catherine McLeland, our CFO. And after that, we'll wrap up with a question from the room. And obviously, those online can also submit their questions. So without further ado, over to Andrea. Thank you very much. Good morning and welcome to MNG's half-year results. I am very happy to be here with you today to share the progress we have achieved so far in 2024 as we continue to deliver on our strategic priorities and to lay the foundations for sustainable business growth. Over the last six months, we have taken meaningful steps forward, both from an operational perspective and towards all our financial targets. Despite a high rate environment, which subdued new business sales, we delivered a good performance with both operating profit and capital generation, nearly matching last year's record results. And thanks to our strong investment performance, we achieved some of the best flows among active managers. With market trends improving, we are well placed to capitalize on growth opportunities. Let me now take you through the key business highlights. We began our strategic journey 18 months ago, when I outlined my three priorities for M&G. Financial strength, simplification, and growth. We continue to relentlessly focus on them, and I'm proud of how much we have already achieved. So, first, let me talk about financial strength. In March, I told you that deleveraging was our top prior...