Legal & General sees profits rise

The FTSE 100 firm booked a 27 per cent increase in operating profit to £988m in the period after a “greater than expected mortality experience” allowed it to release £126m.

L&G saw a 40 per cent profits rise in its General Retirement division to £566m as a result, while annuity sales grew from £700m to £1.6bn.

Assets under management were up 13 per cent to £951bn.

Boss Nigel Wilson said: “Our consistently improving financial performance is due to investing for the long term in our market leading businesses, excellent execution by my colleagues and delivering value for customers.

“Our strategy, based around six long-term macro and demographic growth drivers, not only allows us to grow L&G’s business, but also the scale of our long-term capital enables us to support inclusive growth across the UK.

“Our business model has proven to be resilient to political, economic and regulatory uncertainties.”

Earlier this year, L&G said it plans to shift some of its business to Dublin once Britain leaves the European Union.

The firm will move part of its investment management operation to Ireland so it can continue to serve its customers.

It said there would be no impact on staff in other locations following the move.