Broker snap: Legal and General still 'strategically challenged'

Investec has reiterated its 'sell' rating and 104p target price for Legal and General in spite of the insurance group's half-year results comfortably beating consensus estimates."The big surprise with these results was the 18% increase in the interim dividend to 1.96p (consensus 1.93p) which reflects management's continued confidence in the business," said analyst Kevin Ryan.Operating profit rose 5% to £518m, ahead of consensus estimates of £498m, while earnings per share increased 14% to 6.96p, above forecasts of 6.42p.However, Ryan said: "We continue to see Legal & General as strategically challenged, with just 12% of IFRS operating profit coming from outside the UK."The recovery from the low of 2008 is complete, we believe, but given the difficult operating environment and the recent run in the shares, we retain our 'sell' as we believe all the good news is more than adequately reflected in the current price."By 12:35 on Tuesday, shares were down 1.52% at 129.5p.BC