BUSINESS UPDATE FOR YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2018

RNS Number : 1138P
Just Group PLC
06 February 2019
 

NEWS RELEASE

www.justgroupplc.co.uk

                                                                                                                                                                     

6 February 2019

JUST GROUP plc

BUSINESS UPDATE FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2018

 

 

Just Group plc ("Just", the "Group") announces a business update for the year ended 31 December 2018.

 

Highlights

 

·       Retirement Income sales for FY18 were 15% higher than for FY17, driven by the continued growth in Defined Benefit De-risking ("DB") sales.

·       DB sales for FY18 were up 32% to £1,314m, reflecting a strong year for the market. Following the record volumes in earlier quarters, we were able to be increasingly selective on the business we transacted in Q418.  We also saw the market show similar pricing discipline. 2018 has been a record year for DB sales across the market, and expectations are that 2019 will be another strong year.

·       Guaranteed Income for Life ("GIfL") sales for FY18 were down 4% to £786m. Our volumes slowed in Q418 as pricing increases implemented following the Prudential Regulation Authority's publication of CP13/18 took effect. Shopping around continues to grow as a proportion of total market sales and reached 54% in Q318.

·       Lifetime Mortgage ("LTM") advances of £602m were up 18% on FY17, in line with the growth in Retirement Income sales. LTM market growth was strong as both customer appetite and supply from insurers increased.

 

 

Just Group new business1

12 months to

31/12/18

12 months to

31/12/17

Change


£m

£m

%

Defined Benefit De-risking

1,314

998

32

Guaranteed Income for Life

786

821

(4)

Care Plans

73

72

2

Retirement Income sales

2,173

1,890

15

Drawdown

51

51

0

Total Retirement sales

2,224

1,941

15

Protection2

1

6

NM

Lifetime mortgage loans advanced

602

510

18

Total new business sales

2,827

2,457

15

 

 

Rodney Cook, Group Chief Executive, said:

"I am pleased to report on an excellent year for Just. Despite the challenges we faced we have achieved another year of double digit sales growth and helped more customers than ever. The significant regulatory uncertainty caused by CP13/18 has not distracted our colleagues, our distributors or our customers from the quality of our products and services and I thank all of them for their continued support. As previously announced, following the publication of PS31/18, the Board is continuing to consider the optimal capital mix and level for the Group in order to provide a prudent base to support our new business franchise, and to establish an appropriate dividend policy for shareholders.

We remain focused on our disciplined pricing strategy and on achieving attractive returns on capital from new business and we have been increasingly selective in all our three main markets during the second half of the year in order to maximise returns.

We look forward to presenting our full year results in March."

 

New business sales by quarter1 (£m)

 

3 months to:

31 Dec 2018

30 Sep 2018

30 Jun 2018

31 Mar 2018

31 Dec 2017

30 Sep 2017

30 Jun 2017

31 Mar 2017

31 Dec 2016

Defined Benefit De-risking

233

363

469

249

434

269

170

125

365

Guaranteed Income for Life

159

201

238

188

213

217

216

174

174

Care Plans

21

17

18

18

20

18

17

17

19

Retirement Income

413

581

725

454

666

504

403

317

559

Drawdown

13

14

13

11

14

14

11

12

10

Total Retirement sales

426

595

738

465

681

518

414

328

569

Protection2

-

-

-

1

2

1

1

2

1

LTM loans advanced

119

170

162

151

142

137

124

107

95

Total new business sales

545

765

900

617

826

656

539

436

665

 

 

Notes

1.     Numbers in table subject to rounding.

2.     Protection closed to new business in Q4 17. Q1 18 Protection new business sales represented applications in the pipeline. 

 

 

Enquiries

 

Investors / Analysts

 

James Pearce, Director of Group Finance

 

Telephone: +44 (0) 7715 085 099

james.pearce@wearejust.co.uk

 

Alistair Smith, Investor Relations Manager

Telephone: +44 (0) 1737 232 792

alistair.smith@wearejust.co.uk

 

 

 

Media

 

Stephen Lowe, Group Communications Director

 

Telephone: +44 (0) 1737 827 301

press.office@wearejust.co.uk

 

Temple Bar Advisory

Alex Child-Villiers

William Barker

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7002 1080

 

 

 

FINANCIAL CALENDAR

 

DATE

Preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2018

14 March 2019

AGM and Q119 Business Update

16 May 2019

 

 

A copy of this announcement will be available on the Group's website www.justgroupplc.co.uk

 

JUST GROUP PLC

GROUP COMMUNICATIONS

Vale House, Roebuck Close

Bancroft Road, Reigate

Surrey RH2 7RU


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