23 February 2012 – final results

Solid results from the insurance group have had little impact on the share price.  Pre-tax profits at the group rose by 29% to £613m whilst the strong performance has continued into 2012, despite challenging markets.  The year is expected to see good growth helped by strong profitability in Scandinavia, Canada and Ireland and an improved performance in the UK.  Probably of more interest to investors is the fact that the dividend for 2011 was increased to 9.16p with another, albeit modest, increase forecast for the coming year.  With the shares sporting a historic dividend yield of 8.4% they are a BUY.