Divi hike reflects Hansard's confidence

Specialist long-term savings provider Hansard Global saw assets under administration rise to £1.30bn at the end of 2010 from £1.13bn six months earlier.The company said the present value of new business premiums in the six months ended 31 December rose to £114.5m from £73.5m in the corresponding period of 2009."I am delighted that our continued investment in distribution infrastructure and focus on particular growth markets has delivered new business growth of 50% over the previous year," said Leonard Polonsky, the company's chairman.Operating profit after tax on a European Embedded Value (EEV) basis improved to £9.7m from £7.1m the year before, but on an international financial reporting standards basis (IFRS) profit after tax dipped to £8.4m from £9.2m.The interim dividend has been hiked to 5.75p from 5.50p the year before, reflecting the group's confidence in its future prospects. The group has had a good start to the financial year reflected in improved new business flows, continued positive operating cash flows and increased assets under administration."The covered and growing interim dividend reinforces the attractiveness of the business as an income play but in our view following the strong new business figures Hansard is once again a growth story," declared broker Panmure Gordon. "The shares are currently trading at a 13% discount to 31 December embedded value which in our view incorrectly implies no value in the ongoing business. This is despite a 2011E dividend yield of 8.2%. We have increased our target price to 230p/share (215p) to reflect the increase in embedded value to 191p/share from 180p at 30 June 2010," the broker added, reiterating its "buy" recommendation.