Legal & General (L&G) has reached expectations in its full-year results as the financial services group launched a new share buyback scheme of £500m for 2025.

The company recorded an operating profit of £1.6bn in the year to 31 December, which is an annual increase of 6%, while profit before tax attributable to equity shareholders jumped 337% to £332m.

In its varying sectors, institutional retirement and retail saw its operating profit jumped by 7% to £1.1bn and retail operating profit increased by 12% to £504m.

Furthermore, it increased its store of future profit slightly from £14.7bn in 2023 to £14.8bn in 2024.

However, in the period, its asset management operating profit dropped by 10% to £401m. In this time, L&G’s dividend per share jumped by 5% to 21.36 pence per share.

Chief executive officer at L&G, António Simões, said: "We delivered 6% growth in our core operating profit and core EPS, alongside excellent new business volumes, while investing for the future.

"We are seeing positive commercial momentum as we execute our strategy with rigour and pace. By sharpening our focus and simplifying our portfolio - through the sale of Cala and US Protection - alongside our strategic partnership with Meiji Yasuda and our investment in Taurus, we are strengthening our ability to generate sustainable growth in our core businesses: institutional retirement, asset management and UK retail.

"We stated at our capital markets event that we intended to return more to shareholders and that is exactly what we are doing. Our clear capital allocation framework supports our plan to return over £5bn over the next three years, through dividends and buybacks."

Looking ahead, L&G said that it expects "strong volumes" for its institutional retirement and retail sectors, while its asset management has had a "positive start to the year", and therefore is set to increase in the number of workplace clients transitioning to its lifetime advantage fund.

Senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, Matt Britzman, concluded: "L&G is turning into a more focused beast, and with strong capital generation plus leadership positions in several core markets, plans to return around 40% of its market cap within three years looks attractive.

"For income investors, the c.9% forward dividend yield certainly catches the eye, and with the balance sheet in such a strong place, there’s scope for plenty of buybacks too - todays £500m announcement will be on top of the £1bn planned when the US protection sale goes through.

"There are a lot of strings to the L&G bow, but annuities are probably the standout right now, across both retail and institutions. 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."

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