British insurer Legal & General met forecasts with a nine per cent increase in annual operating profit today and shrugged off fears of a tough home market with defiantly robust forecasts for 2004.
"I think sales growth will be around five percent in the market and we expect to outperform that by about 10 per cent," chief executive Mr David Prosser said in an interview with Reuters.
Legal & General reported operating profit on an achieved basis of £759 million pounds, helped by strong sales of lucrative annuity products.
Legal & General's share of the UK life insurance market rose to 8.6 per cent from 7.9 per cent in 2003 and Mr Prosser said he expected that growth to continue this year.
The firm is the third UK insurer to report this week. Legal & General's profit increase was of a similar order to larger rival Aviva's 11 per cent jump and their positive guidance for the UK chimed.
In contrast, Prudential's earnings slumped 30 per cent on the back of a weak dollar and a poor performance in the US and the UK and it delivered a downbeat view on first-half trading in the UK, where regulatory reviews, weak equity markets and low interest rates have depressed demand.
Legal & General's stock traded flat at 103 pence after the results, while the benchmark FTSE 100 index was up 0.26 per cent.
The shares have risen almost 60 per cent over the past year on the back of improving equity markets and have outperformed those of its peers by 13 per cent over the same period.