Legal & General optimistic about structural growth opportunities

(ShareCast News) - In a statement ahead of its capital markets event later on Monday, Legal & General said all three of its divisions were well positioned to capitalise on "significant structural growth opportunities" arising from geopolitical, economic and demographic changes.The investment manager expects the current full-year forecast for net cash generation will be around £1.4bn, with net surplus generation of £1.1bn pre market and other movements.As far as the divisions are concerned, Legal & General Capital is focused on direct investments, which over time are expected deliver return on capital employed of more than 10%, where the funding gap in the UK for housing, urban regeneration and SME finance is over £500bn.The group said Legal & General Investment Management's assets under management of £841.5bn have increased 180% since the global financial crisis and L&G expects its core strategic markets of defined contribution, defined benefit, solutions and index to present significant global growth opportunities.Meanwhile, in the retirement arm, there remains a "huge opportunity" in the UK, which has £2.1trn in defined benefit liabilities, of which only 5% has transferred to buy-out to date. In the US, the market opportunity is even greater, L& said.The company said it plans to leverage its UK insurance expertise to grow its protection business, scale and technology in the US.Chief executive officer Nigel Wilson said: "Legal & General's global growth opportunities within each division, value driven products, growing loyal customer base and strong balance sheet, underpin our confidence in delivering sustained growth in net cash generation, profits and dividend to our shareholders. Our ambition is to repeat a similar operational performance in 2015-2020 to that achieved in 2010-2015."At 1300 GMT, the shares were up 0.9% to 244.60p.