Royal London Asset Management  

Royal London pre-tax profit up 16% in H1

Royal London pre-tax profit up 16% in H1
Operating profit before tax reached £127mn over the first 6 months of the year (Photo: Visionhaus)

Royal London reported its operating pre-tax profits increased by 16 per cent in the first half of the year. 

The results detailed that the tax before profit increased to £127mn from the £109mn that was recorded for the six month period ending June 30, 2022.

This increase was attributed by Royal London to a growth in workplace pensions new business contribution and higher risk free rates which increased the expected returns on assets.

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Royal London also detailed that its "flagship" investment solution, the Governed Range, attracted net inflows of £1.7bn, an increase on the £1.5bn that was recorded in the first half of last year.

The Governed Range also saw its assets under management increase to £56bn from £53bn at the end of December 2022.

Royal London group chief executive, Barry O'Dwyer, said: In the first half of 2023 we delivered good growth in workplace pensions new business and our net inflows increased 25 per cent to over £3.2bn.

"This growth, alongside our continued cost discipline, has helped to deliver a 16 per cent increase in operating profit. 

"As many of our customers continue to come to terms with the increased cost of living and higher interest rates, our priority has been to help them navigate these challenges, while building their long-term financial resilience."

The announcement also revealed that Royal London welcomed 479 new workplace pension scheme employers and over 120,000 new workplace pension customers.

O'Dwyer added that Royal London's success in workplace pensions has been driven by employers increasingly valuing the benefit as a key way of supporting their employees’ financial wellbeing.

"As a result, they are choosing to partner with digital first providers with a strong sense of purpose," he said.

"As more and more employers adopt this view, mutuals, like Royal London, will be a natural choice. Our mutual mindset of continually focusing on delivering positive enduring change for our customers and wider society ensures they, and employers and advisers, continue to place their trust in us."

Investment performance of actively managed funds over three years was reported to have remained "strong" despite difficult market conditions, with 95 per cent of funds outperforming their three-year benchmark. 

It was also revealed that Royal London paid 99.1 per cent of protection claims in the first half of the year, paying out £343mn to over 39,000 customers.

Additionally, the announcement detailed that Royal London reached an agreement with Aegon UK to acquire its closed individual protection book of over 400,000 policies.

This agreement increased the number of protection policies Royal London will look after to over 1.5mn.

tom.dunstan@ft.com

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