Profit fall at Friends
Shares in Friends Provident tumbled almost five per cent yesterday as the troubled life assurer disappointed investors by posting a 20 per cent fall in profit while failing to complete the sale of its non-core units.
Friends Provident, which has been overhauling its business since the start of the year, said it had not yet sold its Lombard asset management business, adding it “continued to explore options” for the division. The group said its disposal of its 52 per cent stake in F&C Asset Management was “making satisfactory progress.”
The life assurer had also planned to sell its financial adviser Pantheon earlier in the year, but had to scrap this because of poor market conditions.
Shares in Friends Provident closed down 4.9 per cent yesterday, valuing the group at just over £2bn. The stock has halved since the start of the year.
Investors hope new chief executive Trevor Matthews, who was a driving force in the turnaround at insurer Standard Life, will turn around the assurer’s fortunes.
Matthews said: “In my view, we are travelling down the right road.”
He plans to focus on reviving the group’s position in pensions, where uncertainty over its future as an independent company has damaged its position with prospective clients.
The group posted first-half pre-tax profit of £211m from £264m due to declining new business and falling mortgage protection sales.