Sun Life & Provincial profits leap as merger savings beat expectations
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.SUN LIFE & Provincial Holdings, the French-controlled insurer formed from the merger of Sun Life and Axa Equity & Law, yesterday unveiled a 54 per cent jump in pre-tax profits in the year of the merger, writes Andrew Verity.
The group, which is the third largest insurer in the UK, also surprised the City by revealing that savings from the merger were 10 per cent higher than it had hoped.
Shares in the company rose 20p to 580p, valuing it at pounds 4.54bn. Earnings per share jumped by half to 26.8p.
Pre-tax profits rose to pounds 337.7m, 54 per cent more than both groups before the merger. Operating profits, which exclude gains from the sale of its Irish operations, also grew by 14 per cent.
However, the group warned that while its businesses had done well, the value of new business would be difficult to sustain because of competitive market conditions.
Mark Wood, chief executive of Axa, said: "We don't think that our competitors' pricing is sustainable. What we are saying is that we need to get a balance between margin and volume. We are going for margin rather than volume."
Sun Life & Provincial shares closed at 580p, up 20p.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments