Long suffering shareholders in Standard Life got a boost today when the insurer unveiled a tasty rise in the dividend.
Policyholders that got shares when the company joined the stock market in 2006 have had a frustrating time.
The stock floated at 230p and has done little in those six years, today edging up a little to 245p. But at least the divi, up 6.2% for the year to 13.8p, is heading in the right direction.
Chief executive David Nish reckons he has injected “focus and pace” into the business and offered evidence in the form of a 28% rise in profits to £544 million. Sales are up 7% to £19.7 billion.
The insurers’ safety buffer - the IGD surplus - is down from £3.8 billion to £3.1 billion after it bought back some European debt.
Nish says the company is committed to the UK. “We believe it is an exciting place to do business. Our issues are different from the Prudential’s,” he said.
He says the issue with the solvency II regulations from Europe is the uncertainty about when it might be implemented.
“The big frustration is the lack of clarity. We are well advanced internally, but some certainty would help,” he said.
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