Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on March 12, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
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Legal & General plans a $6.5 billion return to investors via buybacks and dividends, focusing on core business growth under CEO António Simões.
By Chandini Monnappa and Shashwat Awasthi
(Reuters) -Britain's Legal & General will return about $6.5 billion to investors via buybacks and dividends over three years as it tries to cement their confidence in a revamp.
The life insurer and asset manager has sold its U.S. protection business for $2.3 billion and UK housebuilder CALA Group in a 1.35-billion-pound deal since António Simões became CEO in 2023, as it focuses on core businesses.
L&G's shares, which have gained more than 6% this year, slipped about 2%. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets said pre-tax profit under IFRS accounting was "materially below" their estimate and contractual service margin was 3% weaker than expected.
But Simões shrugged off Wednesday's price dip during a conference call.
"This is about the long term. The strategy we have outlined in June, the vision, is for a growing, simpler, better connected L&G that's more capitalised over time. These things take time," he said.
"My job is to continue to deliver, day-in and day-out, and then for the market to recognise that."
The company forecast continued growth in retail annuities - a sentiment echoed by Hargreaves Lansdown's senior equity analyst, Matt Britzman.
"L&G is well placed to benefit from the renewed appetite from both individuals and institutions to de-risk their pensions, with the bulk annuity market a particularly strong driver of capital over the long term," he wrote.
Bulk annuities provide insurance for corporate pension schemes, allowing companies to offload risk from their balance sheets.
A report in January said British pension insurance deals totalled 45 billion pounds in 2024, with 40-50 billion pounds expected this year.
L&G reported core operating profit of 1.62 billion pounds for the year ended December 2024, up from 1.53 billion pounds a year earlier, in line with expectations.
It said it would buy back 500 million pounds of shares this year, about 50 million above Jefferies' consensus expectations.
($1 = 0.7745 pounds)
(Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi, Chandini Monnappa and Yamini Kalia, editing by Sinead Cruise)
Legal & General will return about $6.5 billion to investors through buybacks and dividends over the next three years.
L&G has sold its U.S. protection business for $2.3 billion and the UK housebuilder CALA Group for 1.35 billion pounds.
L&G forecasts continued growth in retail annuities, driven by a renewed appetite from individuals and institutions to de-risk their pensions.
L&G reported a core operating profit of 1.62 billion pounds for the year ended December 2024, up from 1.53 billion pounds the previous year.
Bulk annuities provide insurance for corporate pension schemes, allowing companies to offload risk from their balance sheets.
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