Legal & General to Issue Debt in Favorable Market; Current Trading Is Stable
June 16 2020 - 6:03AM
Dow Jones News
By Sabela Ojea
Legal & General Group PLC said Tuesday that it plans to
issue insurance restricted tier 1 debt to take advantage of
favorable bond-market conditions, as the longer-term uncertainty
surrounding the coronavirus pandemic remains, and added that
current trading is stable.
The FTSE 100-listed insurance company said that its current
trading is in line with the previous year and that it achieved
external net flows of 11.2 billion pounds ($14.0 billion) to the
end of May. Total assets under management are estimated at GBP1.23
trillion, with revenue increasing 9% to GBP385 million.
Its annuity portfolio was GBP76.9 billion at June 1, which the
insurer said continues to outperform markets on downgrades and
defaults due to asset allocation and active asset management.
The company also said that its balance sheet and solvency ratio
are strong--its shareholder solvency ratio at the first half of the
year is expected to be in a range of 162% to 167%--and that it
anticipates a surplus over the Solvency Capital Requirement of
around 6 billion pounds ($7.5 billion).
"L&G is performing strongly. Accessing this market
opportunity now both strengthens our capacity to deal with
post-Covid-19 economic uncertainty and enables us to play a fuller
part in the investment-led recovery which will be needed as we
emerge from this pandemic," Chief Executive Nigel Wilson said.
Shares at 0918 GMT were up 6.60 pence, or 2.9%, at 235.50
pence.
Write to Sabela Ojea at sabela.ojea@wsj.com; @sabelaojeaguix
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 16, 2020 05:48 ET (09:48 GMT)
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