Standard Life performance beats estimates
Standard Life Plc, Scotland's biggest insurer, jumped the most since going public almost two years ago as second-half profit exceeded analysts' estimates.
Standard Life rose as much as 14 percent in London trading yesterday after the Edinburgh-based insurer said pretax operating profit for the six months ended Dec 31 increased 29 percent to 528 million pounds.
That beat the 368 million-pound median estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Chief Executive Officer Sandy Crombie, who has pushed sales of low-cost pensions and eliminated more than 5,000 jobs over the past four years, said in an interview he expects "all our markets to see growth this year".
Standard Life's profit margin on new insurance sales increased 50 percent last year, helping the 183- year-old company generate record earnings.
"It is a big surprise," said Youssef Ziai, a London-based analyst at ABN Amro Holding NV who has a "buy" rating on Standard Life. "They are impressive results. They are beginning to see delivery of their cost-reduction programs."
Operating profit in the life and pensions unit rose 36 percent to 840 million pounds under European Embedded Value rules, the measure including assumptions about long-term returns and most-closely followed by analysts.
Agencies
(China Daily 03/13/2008 page17)
