General Insurance Article - Legal & General delivers growth

 Legal & General delivers 18% growth in net cash generation and 12% growth in new business volumes

 OPERATIONAL CASH GENERATION UP TO 25% TO £248M (Q1 2010: £198M)

 NET CASH GENERATION UP 18% TO £212M (Q1 2010: £179M)

 WORLDWIDE SALES UP 12% TO £433M (Q1 2010: £388M)

 LGIM ASSETS UP 8% TO £356BN, SAVINGS ASETS UP 12% TO £65BN

  

 Tim Breedon, Group Chief Executive, said:
 “At our preliminary results presentation in March, we commented that, for Legal & General, increasing net cash generation and growth in the business are not mutually exclusive. Today’s results further demonstrate that point with 18% growth in net cash generation and 12% growth in worldwide sales. We are ahead of our plans to generate £700m of net cash in 2011.
 “LGIM delivered nearly £11bn of gross new business and positive net flows of £2.0bn. Momentum in Savings continued with 20% growth in sales and positive net flows of £0.6bn. As expected, growth returned to the protection business with sales up 14% and in-force premiums up 7%. Annuity sales were down in the face of weaker market volumes.
 “Elsewhere, we are continuing to make good progress on a number of key projects. The US capital management programme is proceeding to plan and international new business in LGIM is ahead of our plans. Roll out of our workplace savings platform continues with a number of large UK companies deciding to move their pension arrangements to Legal & General. Our Retail Distribution Review project is entering its implementation phase with a number of business partners signed up for post-RDR distribution agreements.
 “We are very confident about the Group’s prospects for 2011 and beyond.”