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LONDON (Alliance News) - Long-term savings provider Hansard Global PLC said its pretax profit rose in its 2015 financial year and said that despite new business sales falling, it has started to see signs of improvement.
The company said its pretax profit for the year to the end of June was GBP14.9 million, up from GBP8.3 million a year earlier, despite the group booking a big rise in provisions for investment contract liabilities. These provisions rose to GBP47.8 million from GBP7.3 million.
But the group's profit still rose as its total revenue in the year rose to GBP105.6 million from GBP67.0 million, primarily due to the group generating GBP48.6 million in investment income, up from GBP7.4 million.
New business sales for the group dropped to GBP60.6 million in the year from GBP83.0 million, as its assets under administration fell to GBP907.0 million from GBP944.0 million. The new business sales were constrained by the suspension of activities by a large distributor of the group in Japan during the 2014 financial year, though the group said it has started to see stronger sales emerge from its North Asia, Middle East and Africa units.
Hansard said it will pay a final dividend of 5.25 pence per share, up from 5.0 pence, bringing its total dividend to 8.75 pence, up from 8.40 pence.
"With the strategic enhancements to our product range and distribution networks now complete, we have started to see signs of recovery after a challenging two years," said Chief Executive Gordon Marr. "We are continuing to develop our presence in targeted locations which we believe offer significant opportunities in the future."
Shares in Hansard were flat at 104.5 pence on Wednesday.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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