14 March 2012
There was a boost for Legal & General shareholders today when the insurer shoved up its dividend by more than a third.
Britain’s fifth-biggest insurer will pay a total dividend for 2011 of 6.4 pence per share, an increase of 35%, much better than the City was predicting. Profits for 2011 edged up to £1.06 billion.
It said the big rise in the shareholder payout was warranted because of improvements in cash generation and the “high visibility of future cashflows”. L&G’s net cash generation improved 11% to £846 million. Shares in L&G rose 4.9p to 130.25p, making it the biggest gainer on the FTSE 100.
The shares have comfortably outperformed the FTSE 100 over the past six months, gaining 42% compared with the index’s 14% rise.
