9 Months Business Figures - New Business Up 30%
CGU PLC
27 October 1999
CGU plc
WORLDWIDE LIFE & SAVINGS NEW BUSINESS
9 MONTHS 1999
* Worldwide new business increased by 30% to £5,412m.
* New annual premiums up 67% to £521m, including £179m from
Polish pensions in the third quarter.
* Single premium sales 25% higher at £4,256m.
* ISA, PEP, unit trust and UCITS sales up 37% to £635m.
Bob Scott, Group Chief Executive, commented:
'Record new business sales of £5.4 billion were achieved in the
first nine months, 30% higher than last year, with growth in all our
major businesses.
The UK again produced a good performance, with strong investment
bond and pensions new business, and our equity ISA sales are growing
faster than the market. In Poland, we are the leading pensions
business having captured some 25% of this new market, with new
annual pension premiums totalling £179m in the third quarter.
We continue to seek new opportunities to grow our life and savings
business and to build on our strong position in the UK and in
Continental Europe.'
Enquiries:
Media
Robbie Graham, Director of Life Development +44(0)171 662 2050
UK Press:
Ian Harper, Public Relations Manager 01904 452 172
0410 011 428 (mobile)
Analysts/Investors
Steve Riley, Head of Investor Relations +44(0)171 662 8115
New single New annual ISAs/PEPs TOTAL
premiums premiums unit trusts
/UCITS (ii)
Local Local Local Local
9 mths currency 9 mths currency 9 mths currency currency
1999 growth 1999 growth 1999 growth growth
£m % £m % £m % %
United Kingdom 1,974 29 127 (4) 549 51 30
France 979 18 9 13 18
Netherlands 244 9 57 4 8
Italy 679 17 38 1 16
Poland 9 167 225 487 461
Germany 83 n/a 24 n/a n/a
Other Europe 138 160 8 29 86 (12) 48
Rest of World 150 (3) 33 21 1
----- --- --- --- --- --- ---
TOTAL 4,256 25 521 67 635 37 30
----- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Notes:
(i) Average exchange rates used and premiums are gross of reassurance.
(ii) UCITS are collective investments sold throughout Europe and Asia.
(iii) Growth excludes sales from discontinued business.
UK : CGU Life's total sales of new life, pensions and investment
business rose by 30% to £2.7bn. There was strong growth through our
multi-channel distribution network, with NAPI (new annual premiums
plus a tenth of new single premiums and investment products) sales
up 10% through IFAs and 36% through our other channels.
New single premiums were 29% higher at £1,974m, boosted by a 43%
increase to £1,371m in sales of our main investment product, the
Portfolio Bond. New single premium pension sales increased by 19%
to £559m, including an 18% increase in individual pensions business
to £303m and a 20% increase in group pensions business to £256m.
New annual premiums were 4% lower overall with increased individual
pensions business offset by lower mortgage and protection sales.
Annual premium pension sales were up 5% at £82m, with individual
pension business 11% higher at £50m and group pensions sales of
£32m. These strong pensions sales and CGU Life's position as one of
the lowest cost operators make it ideally placed to capitalise on
future stakeholder pensions.
New investments into ISAs, unit trusts and PEPs were 51% higher at
£549m, including £162m of ISA sales. In the 3rd quarter, ISA sales
were £79m, roughly 90% of PEP sales in the 3rd quarter of 1998.
France : New business levels continued to show good growth, with
single premium sales 18% higher at £979m, well ahead of the market
growth of around 10%. AFER bond sales remained buoyant, up 51% at
£531m, reflecting the product's competitive return. Sales of unit-
linked policies (including £91m in unit-linked AFER sales) and other
savings products were at a similar level in the third quarter and
group protection sales remain ahead of 1998 levels. To grow its
share of the individual protection market, Abeille vie redesigned
and relaunched its main protection policy, 'ANOR', in September
1999.
Netherlands : New annual premiums were 4% higher at £57m, including
a 33% increase to £13m in sales of Delta Life, our unit-linked
universal life product. Single premiums were up 9% to £244m,
following the acquisition of a new group pension scheme. The
acquisition of Nuts Ohra will make Delta Lloyd Nuts Ohra the 4th
largest life insurer in the Netherlands, and the second largest in
pensions. Sales from Nuts Ohra are not included in these new
business results and will be consolidated in the fourth quarter of
1999.
Italy : Following strong sales in the first 6 months of the year,
new annual and single premiums remained ahead of 1998 levels at the
9 months stage, at £38m and £679m respectively.
We are focused on developing our newest bancassurance arrangements.
Banca Popolare di Lodi contributed £3m (1998 £1m) in annual premiums
and £24m (1998 £2m) in single premiums, and business is just
commencing through Banca delle Marche, contributing £9m to single
premiums. Together, they provide a 500 national branch network and
training and new product design are well underway. We have the
bancassurance expertise and international reputation to further
expand distribution in Italy and CGU is actively seeking new
opportunities.
Poland : CU Polska has a leading position in the Polish pensions
market and generated £179m in new annual premiums in the third
quarter, representing the processing of 1.1m applications. At 30
September 1999, 1.6m pension applications in total had been
received, with a further tranche expected in the fourth quarter.
Life sales have benefited from the cross-selling opportunities
provided by the new pension arrangements. Annual premium life sales
were 16% higher at £44m and single premiums increased by 167% to
£9m. Overall, total annual premium sales were substantially higher
at £225m in the first nine months.
In Romania, we were pleased to receive a licence to begin life
operations from next year. Romania offers exciting growth
prospects, with a large population of 23 million, a low life
assurance spend to GDP of 0.03% (UK 7.87%), and the prospect of
future reform of state pensions.
Germany : New business levels remained strong at Berlinische Leben
and we continue to refocus the business on the profitable unit-
linked and group pensions markets. Sales were well ahead of last
year, with annual premiums increasing to £24m, including £9m in the
third quarter, and single premiums of £83m, reflecting strong
pension and annuity sales.
In Ireland, excellent single premium investment bond sales of £55m
were achieved in the third quarter, boosting total new business to
£118m in 1999. Our cross-border business in Luxembourg added £86m
in UCITS sales. New annual premiums more than doubled to £12m in
Turkey, reflecting an increase in the direct salesforce to over 600.
In the United States, single premium sales of £128m were 5% lower,
with good sales of a new deferred annuity product being offset by
reduced demand for immediate annuities. Annual premiums were 15%
lower at £15m, following our withdrawal from sales of unprofitable
group health products. In Canada, sales of protection and annuity
products boosted new annual premiums by 32% to £6m and single
premiums were 9% higher at £21m.
ASSET MANAGEMENT
CGU manages worldwide assets of around £130bn, making us one of the
top 20 fund managers in Europe.
Over £6bn in new funds, including life and savings new business and
over £800m in third party mandate investments, have been attracted
in the first nine months of 1999. Our UK longer term investment
performance record remains strong, with our third party pension fund
performance ranking in the top quartile over the last 5 years.
NOTES TO EDITORS
* CGU is Europe's 5th largest insurance group and the largest in
the UK (based on worldwide sales of some £18bn per annum).
* Life and savings represents around half of CGU's total
business.
* The geographical split of total life, pensions and retail
investment sales for the 12 months to 30 September 1999 was:
%
United Kingdom 49
France 19
Netherlands 6
Italy 12
Poland 4
Germany 2
Other Europe 4
Rest of World 4
---
100
---
* Distribution of UK life and savings products using NAPI (new
annual premiums plus a tenth of new single premiums and investment
products) for the 9 months to 30 September 1999 was:
%
IFAs 66
Partnership/Direct 34
---
100
---
* All growth rates are quoted in local currency.
* CGU's 9 months 1999 results will be reported on 10 November 1999.
* Results and corporate news releases are available on the Internet:
www.cgugroup.com/group
Worldwide life & savings new business - 9 months 1999
New single New annual ISAs/PEPs
premiums premiums unit trusts/
UCITS (ii)
Local Local Local
9 months currency 9 months currency 9 months currency
1999 1998 growth 1999 1998 growth 1999 1998 growth
£m £m % £m £m % £m £m %
United Kingdom
Individual
pensions 303 256 18 50 45 11
Group pensions 256 214 20 32 33 (3)
Mortgage - - - 31 38 (18)
Other life 1,415 1,064 33 14 16 (13)
PEPs/ISAs/
unit trusts - - - - - - 549 364 51
----- ----- --- --- --- ---
1,974 1,534 29 127 132 (4)
France
AFER (excl.
unit-linked) 531 348 51 - - -
Unit-linked &
other savings 337 370 (9) 8 7 18
Group protection
business 111 106 4 1 1 (22)
----- ----- --- --- --- ---
979 824 18 9 8 13
Netherlands
Individual
pensions 67 63 5 - - -
Group pensions 118 81 46 13 14 (3)
Universal life 13 27 (53) 13 10 33
Other individual
life 37 43 (15) 25 25 (4)
Group life 9 8 8 6 5 5
----- ----- --- --- --- ---
244 222 9 57 54 4
Italy
Unit-linked 590 540 9 15 9 70
Savings,
protection &
other 89 40 122 23 29 (21)
----- ----- --- --- --- ---
679 580 17 38 38 1
Poland
Life & savings 9 4 167 44 42 16
Pensions - - - 181 - n/a
----- ----- --- --- --- ---
9 4 167 225 42 487
Germany
Life & savings 28 6 n/a 12 4 n/a
Pensions &
annuities 55 6 n/a 12 3 n/a
----- ----- --- --- --- ---
83 12 n/a 24 7 n/a
Other Europe
Life & pensions 138 53 160 8 6 29
UCITS - - - - - - 86 98 (12)
----- ----- --- --- --- ---
138 53 160 8 6 29
United States
Life assurance 5 7 (27) 7 11 (36)
Pensions &
annuities 123 124 (3) 8 7 -
----- ----- --- --- --- ---
128 131 (5) 15 18 (15)
Other 22 21 9 18 9 94
----- ----- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
TOTAL 4,256 3,381 25 521 314 67 635 462 37
----- ----- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Notes:
(i) Average exchange rates used and premiums are gross of reassurance.
(ii) UCITS are collective investments sold throughout Europe and Asia.
(iii) 1998 figures exclude sales from discontinued business.
Latest directors dealings
- 1 day ago Savannah Energy
- 1 day ago Buccaneer Energy PLC
- 1 day ago Savannah Energy
- 1 day ago Carclo
- 1 day ago Schroder Japan Growth Fund