Proactive Investors - Matching expectations, insurance big cap Legal & General declared a full-year dividend per share of 20.34p, marking a 5% increase from the previous year.
Today’s full-year results underscored increased pension-based operating profits by 10% in 2023 to generate £886 million in a year that saw record appetite for de-risking among legacy pension providers.
L&G announced a firm-wide operating profit of £1.67 billion for 2023, basically flat from £1.66 billion in 2022, while profit before tax nearly halved to £561 million.
This was attributed to “unrealised mark-to-market impact of higher rates on asset valuations, the cost relating to our announced Modular Homes closure and the write-down of our investment in Onto”.
FTSE 100 to open higher
The FTSE 100 should open slightly higher this Wednesday in a trading session that brings up Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s (probably) last Budget before the next general election.
National Insurance contributions are expected to be lowered with income left unchanged, while a raft of manufacturing incentives, technology reforms, artificial intelligence spending and stamp duty cuts are in the pipeline.
Hunt is scheduled to speak at 1.30pm.
Insurance and asset-management large cap Legal & General Group PLC (LON:LGEN) will publish its full-year results today, with pension risk transfers (PRTs) top of the attention pile.
As for the all-important dividends, L&G has guided 5% per-year dividend growth until full year 2024.
Year-end results Capital plc, interims for Galliford Try Holdings PLC (LON:GFRD) and a trading update from DS Smith are also due.
In the cryptocurrency markets, bitcoin bulls will be hoping to regain the all-time high after briefly touching it yesterday.
FTSE futures have the lead index opening 11 points higher at 7,657 after closing slightly higher on Tuesday.