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LONDON (Alliance News) - Legal & General Group PLC on Wednesday reported an 18% increase in first-half operating profit, driven by growth in four of the FTSE 100 insurance and investment company's six divisions.
In a statement, Legal & General increased its interim dividend by 19% to 3.45 pence per share from 2.90p, as operating profit increased by 18% to GBP750 million in the six months to the end of June, ahead of the 3.36p interim dividend and GBP692 million operating profit analyst forecast provided by the company.
Operational cash generation increased to GBP624 million from GBP578 million, which was ahead of the GBP618 million forecast by analysts.
"Legal & General continues to deliver strong organic growth in the UK and the US from both our developing and established, market leading businesses. In addition we are disposing of, or closing non-core businesses and reducing costs in real and nominal terms," Chief Executive Nigel Wilson said in a statement.
"The actions that we are taking allow us to focus on our chosen markets, enable us to continue to deliver low prices and better value for our increasing customer base and deliver attractive returns for our shareholders," Wilson added.
Legal & General said it is on track to meet its GBP80 million cost-savings target across the group, with the aim of reducing costs to about GBP1.17 billion from GBP1.25 billion in 2014. Those cost savings will result in one-time restructuring costs of about GBP40 million in 2015. The company said it is confident of delivering its operational cash guidance for 2015.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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