Insurer Prudential promises long-term review
The new boss of UK insurance giant Prudential today unveiled a 31% hike in half-year profits and revealed that a review of the business was underway.
Mark Tucker said he was actively studying “longer-term trends and opportunities” after he took over from ousted chief executive Jonathan Bloomer in May.
But he remained tight-lipped on whether this review may involve reviving plans to sell the Prudential 79% stake in online bank Egg, which the insurer failed to offload in an auction last year.
Analysts also expect Mr Tucker to refocus the business on Asian markets as he formerly headed up the Pru’s unit in the Far East before moving to banking group HBOS.
Announcing its results for the first six months of this year, the Pru said achieved profits from continuing operations totalled £834m (€1.2bn) – ahead of market expectations.
Sales of new business on an annual premium equivalent basis – the standard industry measure that features all regular premiums and 10% of single premiums - were 34% higher than a year ago at £1.13bn (€1.6bn).
Growth was fastest in the UK where annual premium equivalent insurance sales were up 50% at £541m (€782.4m), although the figure was flattered by £145m (€209.7m) from the purchase of the annuities book of Phoenix Life & Pensions.
Stripping out the impact of this deal, the Pru said sales growth of 10% in the UK compared with a market that was expanding by just 2% to 3%.
Mr Tucker said: “These results demonstrate the group is performing well. We have delivered double-digit sales growth in all our markets, while maintaining margins at a group level.
“We face a number of challenges, but we remain confident of achieving the growth and return targets we have set out across each of our businesses and we are optimistic about prospects in the longer-term.”
