LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Legal & General Group Plc. (LGEN.L) reported Wednesday that its fiscal 2018 profit before tax attributable to equity holders grew 2 percent to 2.13 billion pounds from last year's 2.09 billion pounds.
The company noted that its profit before tax was impacted by negative investment variance as a result of volatility in global financial markets. This was primarily due to losses from the LGC traded equities portfolio, reflecting market performance versus the company's long term economic assumptions. This was partially offset by gains in LGR due in part to a number of trading actions during the second half of the year.
Profit after tax attributable to equity holders of the company declined 3 percent to 1.83 billion pounds from 1.89 billion pounds last year. Earnings per share decreased 4 percent to 30.79 pence per share from 31.87 pence per share last year.
Operating profit including mortality reserve release increased 14 percent to 2.34 billion pounds from 2.06 billion pounds a year ago.
Gross written premiums grew to 13.25 billion pounds from 7.93 billion pounds in the prior year.
However, total income fell to 1.26 billion pounds from 40.49 billion pounds in the previous year.
The company's board has recommended a final dividend of 11.82 pence giving a full year dividend of 16.42 pence, 7 percent higher than 2017.
Looking ahead, Legal & General said that the structural drivers, on which the Group's strategy is based, are largely unaffected by on-going political and economic uncertainty. The company added it remains confident of continuing its momentum into 2019.
Between 2011 and 2015, the company achieved an EPS CAGR of 10 percent per annum, and said it is on track to deliver a similar performance out to 2020.
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