Royal London has bounced back from its Covid slump posting pre-tax profits of £228m for the first half of the year.
In its interim results for the first six months of 2021, announced this morning (August 5), Royal London saw its pre-tax profits hit £228m, a significant growth on the £181m loss it posted for the same period last year when the impact of the pandemic first showed.
The mutual said this growth was due to higher returns on UK investments and yield increases.
Assets under management increased to a record high of £153bn, compared to £148bn at the end of December 2020, due to positive market movements and net inflows.
This is despite net inflows falling to £405m, almost half of the £997m recorded at the same period last year.
Royal London said its inflows had been impacted by institutional outflows and a lower level from its individual pension business.
Its pensions new business sales were £3.8bn, slightly down from £4.1bn in H1 2020, with individual pension volume remaining below pre-pandemic levels but recovering compared to the second half of 2020.
Barry O'Dwyer, Royal London's chief executive, said: “Our strong credentials as a sustainable asset manager and an increasing societal focus on responsible investment continues to drive strong flows into our award-winning funds ranges.
“We believe that our reputation for investing responsibly, combined with our mutual status and the way we share our profits with eligible customers, means we have a uniquely attractive offer, helping Royal London customers to protect their families against life shocks whilst investing in a better future."
In its results, Royal London said it would engage with advisers to “understand how we can best help them build their digital capabilities, scale their businesses to support more customers and also meet the increasing need for sustainable investments”.
This comes after it acquired robo-advice business Wealth Wizards from LV in March.
At the time, Royal London said it was now able to help customers who have joined workplace schemes through auto-enrolment as well as support employers and advisers looking to help employees make better financial decisions.
amy.austin@ft.com
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