Legal and General (L&G) Retail lent £140m in lifetime mortgages, including retirement interest-only (RIO) mortgages, during the first half of the year.
This was down from advances of £163m last year, which L&G said reflected a “decline in demand” due to higher interest rates. The provider said it continued to “maintain pricing and underwriting discipline”.
L&G Retail’s protection gross premium income rose from £752m in H1 2023 to £760m this year. Its new business annual premiums came to £75m, down slightly from £76m a year earlier. L&G said this was achieved during a “highly competitive market”.
The firm also said it was a leader in this market, with a share of 18.8%, and praised its ability to deliver a point-of-sale underwriting decision to more than 80% of its customers. Earlier this week, L&G announced changes to its adviser protection platform, with updates made in response to feedback.
For the first six months of the year, L&G Retail saw its operating profit increase by 6% to £268m, which it owed to a rise in contractual service margin release and a positive claims experience. The contractual service margin is the unearned profit a company expects to earn through its services.
However, the group said its retail division’s profit was slightly impacted by higher non-attributable expenses.
Profit expected to grow
The wider L&G Group closed the period with a profit after tax of £223m, down from £377m a year ago.
António Simões, CEO of L&G Group, said the results reflected the “ongoing strength” of the business, adding that its core operating profit was slightly higher than last year. This rose from £844m to £849m.
“We continue to expect 2024 core operating profit to grow by mid-single digits year-on-year,” he added.
Simões said: “At our Capital Markets event in June, we set out our strategy to deliver L&G’s next phase of sustainable growth and enhanced returns, through focused capital allocation and rigour in execution. We are pleased to announce a 5% increase in interim dividends per share, and progress in undertaking a £200m share buyback, consistent with our new capital return framework.
“We are making clear progress on delivering against our strategy, notably in the establishment of a single asset manager.”
Simões said: “Looking ahead, we are well-positioned to continue to execute our strategy with pace and ambition, delivering growth and value for all our stakeholders.”
Shekina is the deputy editor at Mortgage Solutions and commercial editor at Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions. She has nearly eight years of experience in the B2B publishing market, having previously covered the hospitality, retail, pet, accounting and jewellery sectors.
Shekina has worked for Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions for almost five years. Here, she covers the market’s breaking news stories, engages with professionals in the sector, and oversees any commercially agreed content in partnership with mortgage-related companies.
This includes presenting webinars and hosting roundtable discussions on developing themes in the mortgage sector.
She is an NCTJ-trained journalist and was nominated for the Headline Money Awards Mortgage Journalist of the Year in 2021.
In her spare time, Shekina likes to read, travel, listen to music and socialise with friends.
She currently reports on current events in the mortgage market and liaises with financial clients to produce sponsored content.
Follow her on Twitter at @ShekinaMS
