Legal & General (L&G) has posted a 6% jump in core operating profit to £859m in its opening half results.

The insurer also reported earnings per share (EPS) growth of 9% to 10.94p in H1, which was at the top end of its 6-9% targeted range.

L&G, publishing its results for the six months to 30 June, said it had “sharpened” its strategic focus in H1 with the agreed sale of its US protection business and partnership with Meiji Yasuda for $2.3bn. The insurer has also progressed the disposal of assets in its corporate investments unit and confirmed it would be redeploying the capital “towards growth”.

H1 saw the company’s Solvency II capital generation increase by 3% to £729m, with L&G’s Solvency II coverage ratio now standing at 217%.

L&G CEO, António Simões, said H1 had been an “excellent six months” and added that the company was “making the most of the synergies” between its three businesses.

“Institutional retirement operating profit is up double digits, and we have written over £5bn of new business at low capital strain,” Simões commented.

“We have seen material progress in asset management, with positive annualised net new revenues driving a further increase in our average revenue margin, which is now close to our double-digit ambition.

“In retail, our customer base has grown to 12.4 million, and workplace pension assets have surpassed £100bn.”

Following the performance, L&G announced an interim dividend per share of 6.12p, a level up by 2% in line with its guidance. The group also revealed that 90% of the £500m share buyback scheme it announced in its last full year results had now been completed.

Simões added: “The outlook for our businesses is positive and we are firmly on track to achieve our financial targets. We are delivering on our promise to return more to shareholders with over £5bn in dividends and share buybacks over three years.”

---