Standard Life Shares

sabretoothtigger

F&C Asset Management (F&C) is no longer in an offer period after discussions with a number of parties ended.

Friends Provident confirmed it intends to make a pro-rata distribution of its 52% stake in F&C to its shareholders during 2009. F&C also announced its year end results today, with losses coming in at £50.5m from £18.7m profits last year. Assets under Management was £98.6bn (2007: £103.6 billion) despite sharp declines in major indices.

Probably more relevant is just general market news, why citigroup should effect SL to the tune of 15% is anyones guess but its not the first time its been all about citi

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street got some good news from Citigroup, and responded with a huge rally.

Led by financial stocks, the market made its first big move upward in weeks Tuesday after Citigroup Inc. said it had operated at a profit during the first two months of the year. All the major indexes soared more than 3.5 percent, and the Dow Jones industrials shot up more than 250 points.


Still, while word of Citi's performance at least temporarily broke a months-long torrent of bad news from the banking industry, analysts weren't ready to say the stock market was at a turning point and about to barrel higher.
In a letter sent to employees Monday, Citi Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said the bank had an operating profit of $8.3 billion before taxes and special items through February -- its best performance since the third quarter of 2007.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Stocks-shoot-higher-on-apf-14594206.html



NU 2008 income statement
http://www.h-l.co.uk/shares/security_financials/sedol/0216238

Yorkshireman_3

loveabargin wrote: »

Hi all

Since the gloom kicked in I've been looking at this thread to try and get an idea what others are doing with there SL shares/endowment. I have SL shares (free ones) and a endowment with profits policy which matures in 2011.

Sorry to be thick but I dont understand the markets at all, except I'm now very aware that I should of sold my shares and cashed in my endowment last summer.

On reading this thread it appears that the outlook, is for things to get worse. So I'm wondering whether to sell my shares and cash in the endowment now and take what I can.

Luckly I have no mortgage so dont need the money for that, it would just be added to my savings at 5.8% to Dec 2009.

I'm happy to leave it with SL to 2011 with hope that there might be some final bonus, as long as I'm not going to loose the lot. As for my shares if holding on to them for the long term is a good option I'll do that too.


I accept that this is peoples opinions and not advice.

Thanks

My opinion for what its worth is sit tight -- leave it with SL til 2011 -- still think shares way undervalued -- ive got endowment and shares im keeping long term -- lifes a gamble - if general confidence doesnt return soon then we all lose -- but i recon should be ok before 2011 --- before then ppl will realise which companies are solid ---- forever the optomist :beer:

loveabargin

Thats what I'm gonna do Yorkshireman Im hoping in 2011 I'll be :j or maybe not!!!!!!!!!!!:eek:

Yorkshireman_3

loveabargin wrote: »

Thats what I'm gonna do Yorkshireman Im hoping in 2011 I'll be :j or maybe not!!!!!!!!!!!:eek:

Your an Essex Lass so ul be ok :beer:

Buddy195

loveabargin wrote: »

Thats what I'm gonna do Yorkshireman Im hoping in 2011 I'll be :j or maybe not!!!!!!!!!!!:eek:

Personally bought extra on friday, also have some free ones, which looking back on I should have sold ages ago, but not bothered with them as didn't need the money! Nice rise today on SL. hopefully it's a turn in the current gloomy market

loveabargin

Yorkshireman wrote: »

Your an Essex Lass so ul be ok :beer:

If all goes well I'll start a SL 2011 _party_ thread :rotfl:

sabretoothtigger

EARNINGS PREVIEW: Standard Life 08 Pretax Op Pft Seen +0.8%
Standard Life (SL.LN): 2008 Earnings Figures
Due: March 12 at 0700 GMT
Company Survey of 12 Analysts
Average Pretax Operating Profit: GBP888M, up 0.8% (GBP881M in 2007)
Note: A rise is expected, with higher returns from in-force business making up for a likely drop in contributions from new business. Focus will be on Standard Life's capital position, sales outlook and dividend policy. (VDG)

http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=1HASTmRmi5LH7OUB%2F2uDgA%3D%3D.



A rise in profits during a recession sounds optimistic to me and the shares are up some

LONDON (Standard & Poor's) Feb. 25, 2009--

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services
said today it raised its long-term counterparty credit and insurer financial
strength ratings on U.K.-based Standard Life Assurance Ltd. (SLAL) to 'A+'
from 'A'.

At the same time, the long-term counterparty credit rating on
Standard Life PLC was raised to 'A-' from 'BBB+'. In addition, Standard &
Poor's affirmed its 'A-1' short-term counterparty credit rating on SLAL. The
ratings on strategically important subsidiary Standard Life Bank Ltd. (SLB;
A-/Stable/A-2) are unaffected by today's rating action on SLAL. Furthermore,
the scope for SLB to be considered a core subsidiary, and therefore for the
ratings on SLB to be equalized, is still considered remote. The outlook on
Standard Life PLC, SLAL, and SLB is stable.


"The rating action reflects our opinion that strong execution of tactical
initiatives over the past three years, repositioning the business model in the
U.K., places SLAL in a relatively strong position in the current downturn and
beyond," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Paul Bradley.


The ratings on the Standard Life group reflect the very strong capital
position, very strong investment profile, and very strong liquidity profile.
Offsetting factors are the challenges it faces in delivering new business
profitability in the short term.


"We expect that new business profitability, in terms of new business
margin and internal rate of return, will hold up comparatively well in 2009
and 2010, while new business volumes continue to trend upwards," said Mr.
Bradley. Standard & Poor's expects to continue to maintain its very strong
capital position.


We believe that there is little potential for a positive rating action in
the short to medium term.

The outlook may be revised to negative if Standard Life's performance
falls below our expectations for the U.K. operations, namely that the
capitalization remains very strong, the gross new business margins remain
above 1.5%, IRR on new business remains above 10%, positive sales growth in
2009 and gross scale value of new business (defined as new business
contribution divided by value in force) remains above 10%.


Ratings information is available to RatingsDirect subscribers at
www.ratingsdirect.com. It can also be found on Standard & Poor's public Web
site at www.standardandpoors.com; select your preferred country or region,
then Ratings in the left navigation bar, followed by Find a Rating.
Alternatively, call one of the following Standard & Poor's numbers: Client
Support Europe (44) 20-7176-7176; London Press Office (44) 20-7176-3605; Paris
(33) 1-4420-6708; Frankfurt (49) 69-33-999-225; Stockholm (46) 8-440-5914; or
Moscow (7) 495-783-4011.



Analytic services provided by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services
(" Ratings Services ") are the result of separate activities designed
to preserve the independence and objectivity of ratings opinions. The credit
ratings and observations contained herein are solely statements of opinion and
not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any
securities or make any other investment decisions. Accordingly, any user of
the information contained herein should not rely on any credit rating or other
opinion contained herein in making any investment decision. Ratings are based
on information received by Ratings Services. Other divisions of
Standard & Poor's may have information that is not available to Ratings
Services. Standard & Poor's has established policies and procedures to
maintain the confidentiality of non-public information received during the
ratings process.

Ratings Services receives compensation for its ratings. Such compensation is
normally paid either by the issuers of such securities or third parties
participating in marketing the securities. While Standard & Poor's reserves
the right to disseminate the rating, it receives no payment for doing so,
except for subscriptions to its publications. Additional information about
our ratings fees is available at www.standardandpoors.com/usratingsfees.

Copyright (c) 2009, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services

10/02/2009 10:33
FOCUS: Top UK Insurers Seen Among Most Resilient In 2009
By Vladimir Guevarra
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
LONDON (Dow Jones)--Insurers in the FTSE 100 could be among the most resilient financial stocks this year, as they have already fallen far below their embedded values and as investors become more confident that the sector won't suffer the same nightmare seen by U.K. banks in 2008, many analysts say.


There may even be strong upside potential for the insurers, based on analysts' price targets for the coming months.
A Dow Jones analysis of data from Thomson One Analytics and the closing share prices of the nine FTSE 100 insurers show that the insurers are expected to see an average share price increase of 39% over the coming months.


The insurers are Admiral Group PLC (ADM.LN), Amlin PLC (AML.LN), Aviva PLC (AV.LN), Friends Provident PLC (FP.LN), Legal & General Group PLC (LGEN.LN), Old Mutual PLC (OML.LN), Prudential PLC (PRU.LN), RSA Insurance Group PLC (RSA.LN) and Standard Life PLC (SL.LN).


Limited to the top five insurers by market capitalization - Aviva, Prudential, Standard Life, RSA and Legal & General - the average expected rise is 47%, based on Feb 6 prices.

Prudential's expected rise is 83% and Aviva's is 52%, with analysts citing continued contributions from the overseas operations, thereby mitigating the effects of a slowdown in the U.K. market.

Those expected increases are better than the 35% average expected rise in the five remaining banks in the FTSE 100 - Barclays PLC (BARC.LN), HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBA.LN), Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LLOY.LN), Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS.LN) and Standard Chartered PLC (STAN.LN).

Removing RBS, which has effectively become a penny stock, the banks' average increase is only 24%.
The ratings from analysts also indicate how insurers appear to be in favor compared to banks.

On average, 36% of analysts who cover the nine insurers have buy or strong buy ratings, compared with 24% for the five banks.
About 49% have hold ratings for insurers and 37% for banks. Some 12% have underperform rating on insurers and 26% for banks.

Only 3% of analysts have sell ratings on insurers, whereas banks have 12%.
Since their lows in October, the FTSE 350 Insurance index has risen 28%, outperforming the FTSE 100 index which has risen 11% and the FTSE 350 Bank index which has fallen 21%.


Insurers Are Not Banks
Last year, a common complaint among top insurance executives was that investors seemed to have been so spooked by the losses and capitalization problems of banks that they sold all things financial, including insurers.

But the numbers above indicate that more investors are starting to see some key differences between insurers and banks.
"Insurers don't have the same business model that banks have," said an asset manager who looks at U.K. insurance companies.
"At the minute, they don't have solvency issues like what the banks faced. They also haven't faced runs on their funding base. So, in that sense they are a bit safer than banks," he said.

He said other portfolio managers have positions in life insurance companies because they think the selloff last year appears overdone, though his own company "hasn't been a big holder" in life insurers.
Private investors are also becoming more discerning.

"I would be quite comfortable holding insurance company shares, certainly over banks," said Patrick Collier, a 59-year-old retired insurance practitioner from Devon. "They don't lend money in the main. Basically, they manage other people's money as opposed to (banks) lending it to somebody who would probably lose it."

Insurance executives have been persistent in showing this difference in business models.
Swiss Re Chief Economist Thomas Hess stressed that point in at least two briefings in London last year. In one briefing in December, Hess said payouts from insurers are triggered by events, allowing them to avoid a "run" which can happen to a bank if depositors withdraw their savings on a massive scale.

"Insurers, contrary to banks, don't finance themselves through interbank markets or deposits," he said.
"Insurers are financed through premiums, and the payout is only usually when there is a claim...in life insurance, you'd first have to die before you get paid," Hess said.


2009 - Some Buying Opportunity
Last month, Panmure Gordon analyst Barrie Cornes said that 2008 was a "dreadful" year for the U.K. life insurance sector.
"It is by no means out of the woods in 2009. That said, it is not all doom and gloom: With share prices at their current levels, we believe that there are attractive buying opportunities on a 12-month view," Cornes said.
Over the past two weeks, four U.K. insurers - Aviva, Friends Provident, Legal & General and Standard Life - reiterated that their capital positions remain strong.


Two of them, Aviva and Standard Life, even posted higher surplus capital figures for December compared with September.
Legal & General said it is looking at tweaking its insurance products to match people's needs during a recession.
In a recent briefing, L&G Chief Executive Tim Breedon said: ""I have some confidence in pensions...People's pensions pots are less than they were. They see the effect of the market on their pensions pots," Breedon said.
"Coming out of the credit crisis, people will look to shore up their financial security," he said.

"The mix of our savings business over the next few years will move away from unit-linked bonds and more towards modern, transparent, flexible, value-for-money pensions products," Breedon said.
Non-life insurers are also seeing their prices of insurance premiums rise due to continued natural catastrophes and hurricanes as well as a rise in pirate attacks last year.


Some investors now fear that the biggest threat to profitability is the possibility of rising corporate bond defaults.
Still, some analysts say this fear, though real, may be overstated.
Panmure Gordon's Cornes said that Prudential could be perceived to have the greatest bond exposure among U.K. insurers, due to its U.S. unit Jackson National's debt portfolio worth GBP19.9 billion.
It is estimated that the global default rates during the 1930s recession was around 1.6% for investment grade and 15.4% for high yield investments.


"Applying peak global default rates and conservative recoveries, Prudential's Insurance Group Directive surplus at Sept. 30 of GBP1.2 billion (we estimate it was at a similar level at year-end 2008), would be able to withstand such losses without the need for additional capital," Cornes said.

Cornes also said it is possible for the U.K. Treasury and other regulators to "bend over backwards to try to prevent a crisis in confidence similar to the U.K. banks."

-U.K.'s Standard Life Bank (SL.LN) has priced a GBP500 million, 2.375%, 2011 bond through lead managers Barclays PLC, HSBC Holdings PLC, JP Morgan Chase & Co. Lloyds Banking Group PLC and UBS AG, one of the banks said Wednesday. The deal is guaranteed by the U.K. government.
Terms are as follows:

Amount: GBP500 million
Maturity: Feb. 25, 2011
Coupon: 2.375%
Reoffer Price: 99.768
Payment Date: Feb. 25, 2009
Spread: 27 basis points over mid-swaps
Debt Ratings: Aaa (Moody's)
AAA (Standard & Poor's)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7910656.stm



Last Trading statement :

28/01/2009 10:25
UPDATE: Standard Life Shares Rise On Strong Capital Position (Recasts, adds detail, executive and analyst comment.)

By Vladimir Guevarra
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
LONDON (Dow Jones)--Shares in U.K. insurer Standard Life PLC (SL.LN) rose Wednesday after the company said its surplus capital rose recently and that it remains positive on the likely sales performance of a key insurance product in 2009.



At 1012 GMT, its shares were up 7.7% at 223 pence, outperforming the FTSE 100 index which was up 1.7%.



Standard Life's reassurance on its capital position was welcomed by analysts who recently warned that an economic slowdown in Europe could weaken insurance company finances.



The company said it had surplus capital of GBP3.5 billion at end-December, up from GBP3.4 billion at end-September. It said its surplus "has remained largely insensitive to volatile markets" and benefited from an "extensive hedging strategy."



In a briefing, Standard Life managing director of distribution Paul Matthews said: "We are optimistic and positive on the self investment personal pensions (SIPP) market."



"We saw an increase in new customers in the fourth quarter last year. This is a GBP100 million market ... and we've got over 20% of the market with 65,000 customers," he said.



"There are a lot of redundancies expected in 2009. This gives opportunities for people to sort out their retirement planning and the SIPP is the natural vehicle people move to," Matthews said.



In 2008, Standard Life's individual SIPP sales fell 17% to GBP3.76 billion.



In terms of overall sales, the company posted a 6% fall in full-year life and pensions new business sales as a weak performance in the U.K. overwhelmed higher results from Asia and Canada.



The company said total sales for the year ended Dec. 31 on a present value of new business premiums basis, or PVNBP, were GBP15.6 billion, down from GBP16.5 billion in 2007.



PVNBP is a measure of life and pension sales, and is calculated as 100% of single premiums plus the expected present value of new regular premiums.



The result was in line with the GBP15.64 billion average expected by 10 analysts.



Poor investment markets also made investment bond products less attractive.



Standard Life Chief Executive Sandy Crombie said the company reported "another solid set of new business results ... against an increasingly difficult economic backdrop."



"We remain confident in our ability to outperform in the profitable segments in which we operate," Crombie said.



An analyst, who declined to be named, said Standard Life's sales figures were "relatively robust" and said he was encouraged by the group's capital position and expects its dividend policy to be unchanged.



ING analyst Kevin Ryan noted that Standard Life's results were "bang in line" with estimates. "The overseas business was a little stronger than anticipated. The U.K. operations were a little weaker," Ryan said.



Ryan noted that the company's outlook statement sounded positive. He kept his hold rating and target price of 214 pence on the stock. Finance Director David Nish said the company will give an update on its dividend policy on March 12. The company has said previously that it aims "to pay a progressive dividend."



In the first half of 2008, it had an interim dividend of 4.07 pence a share, up from 3.80 pence previously.



Nish also said the company's Pension Sterling fund, which has around 100,000 investors, has lost about 5% of its value.



A spokesman said the company cut the value of that fund on Jan. 14 due to a corresponding fall in the underlying value of the assets held within the fund.



Company Web site: www.standardlife.com

A pricing in line with trading as of the last statement would have the sl price at 1.92 to match the falling ftse

StevieJ

If you were a gambling man you could recover all your stock market losses

Yorkshireman_3

StevieJ wrote: »

If you were a gambling man you could recover all your stock market losses

Go on Steve have a gamble :beer:

StevieJ

I bought Aviva and was regretting it and now I am in the money, talk about volatility