Standard Life Shares Could Reach £4 - Published:05/09/07
The UK's fifth-largest existence assurance and pension provider has announced that first-half operating profits on an embedded worth basis, an insurance industry gauge, soared 71% to £353m, up from £206m last year and better than analysts' forecasts Net profits grew 40% to £115mLifted by physically powerful growth in higher margin products, life and pensions sales grew worldwide by 31% to £818bn, and even faster in the UK with a 45% jump to £695bn The profit input from novel business jumped 66% to £151mGroup limits also exceeded forecasts at 18%, up from 14%, as the cost-saving programme sustained 269 jobs, 25% of its workforce, have been chopped since the end of last day Standard Life had already announced plans to reduce headcount by 1,000 as part of this year's £180m expense-reduction work outThe collection said it anticipated maintaining its business momentum and that full-year results will be "very good", ongoing that it expected to hit market growth over the coming months on high demand for self-invested personal pensions (SIPPS) These let tax-efficient investment of pension investments and Standard Life forecasts that the SIPP marketplace will triple by 2011Furthermore, margins are expected to edge higher with an extra £100m of cost reductions being on the cards for 2009So far it all sounds almost too good to be factual Surely Standard Life cannot continue to grow at this rate Let's examine some possible pitfallsThere was some damage The corporation suffered "slightly worse than expected" cancellations of pension and investment policies totalling £60mobviously, if Britain's housing market was to collide and burn, the company's fortunes would suffer And a severe stock market slide would harm tooThe UK's savings ratio, ie the percentage of profits that Britons stash absent in savings, is at its lowest for over 40 existence, according to the latest stats from the Office of nationwide StatisticsThat has to change soon, maybe driven by more government incentives and the new increases to depositors' ratesAlso, saving tends to choose up if the economy turns down, which now looks increasingly probable Standard Life is in the right put at the right time if that happens And since de-mutualisation, the company does seem to have got its act much more togetherAlthough the store has underperformed the FTSE 100 share directory by 1% since mid July, it has done well over the history year, beating the ‘Footsie' by around 8% even without captivating account of dividends and bonus sharesThe price to earnings relation (PER) for next year is below 11 era consensus estimates, which will probably be upgraded by up to 10% after today's results A small premium to the division, but deserved Add in a dividend yield of just under 4% and normal Life now looks cheapMy note of caution for the temporary: professional punters who weren't too eager on the stock when it floated have probably built up their holdings over the last year Also, those little shareholders who held on for the bonus shares could continue to put up for sale out, particularly if the market waters stay choppyThat would be a good chance to get on board If normal Life gets back to its previous PER of 13 era, the stock could reach £4 per share within the next year© Copyright 1998-2007, The Motley Fool incomplete All human rights reserved This material is for personal use onlyPlace of Reg: England & Wales corporation Reg No: 3736872 VAT Reg No: 735 7818 01 Registered Office: 30 Great Pulteney road,.
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Standard Life Shares Could Reach £4 >>
Standard Life in new mortgage offer - Published:02/12/06
Borrowers who find a mortgage with Standard Life will now be eligible to take benefit of a new individual savings explanation The savings explanation is exclusively available to customers who take out a buy-to-let, lifetime or residential mortgage with the company Standard Life claims that the explanation features a "highly spirited" interest rate of 55 per cent, with a savings bonus of £100Applications for mortgages received before December 31st 2006 will qualify clientele for the savings option, while the bonus will be paid if the mortgage clears before the new yearAndrew Boddie, head of marketing at Standard existence, said: "Both the rate and the £100 bonus are obtainable for a incomplete period only, so the sooner new mortgage customers open an account, the sooner they can take advantage of this handy boost to their savings"Standard existence offers a range of monetary services to customers, including mortgages, pensions, savings accounts, investment bonds and a figure of insurance productsToday's Most Popular Results Mortgage Enquiry Form Need Life cover ------ Mortgages - Information Mortgages - Home ------ Financial military - HomeNone of the information on this website is future to promote any specific mortgage product or give mortgage advice Mortgagescouk is a non-regulated trading name of Financial Services Net Ltd[Terms & Conditions]more sites:railway wagon cover home insurance | cheap flights | ink cartridges |.
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Standard Life In New Mortgage Offer >>
BA pension deficit to hit 2.1bn - Published:04/11/06
Bosses at the airline were gathering union officials to discuss plans to undertake the pensions black hole - which was before put at £928mThe widening deficit comes despite BA doubling its contributions and a recent revival in the stock marketBA's proposals comprise raising the retirement age to 65 and capping pay rises to the speed of inflationThe airline plans to keep its last salary pension scheme, with no increase in employees contribution rates, and will make a £500m one-off payment if unions agree to new arrangementsHowever, GMB nationwide officer Ed Blissett supposed his union would "not accept raising the retirement age to 65 for those who expect to go at 60""The deficit is massive and we must deal with it It's one of the biggest challenges we countenance and I'm determined that we will resolve it," he saidA account by accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers, commissioned by BA pension finance trustees, has suggested that the airline could afford to pay more than a bump sum of £500m into the pensions deficitBut the report said BA could not have enough money annual contributions of more than £240m, well below the amount needed to pay down the.
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Ba Pension Deficit To Hit 2.1Bn >>
