Standard Life Shares

Yorkshireman_3

StevieJ wrote: »

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

U bought at about 1.60?

StevieJ

Yorkshireman wrote: »

U bought at about 1.60?

If only:D 1.90.

sabretoothtigger

StevieJ wrote: »

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

Or double them Buy on scale I reckon, find some reasonable target price and buy/sell as it rotates around that. With the bear market that target price must be gradually (and not so gradually) going down I guess so who knows where it is now

I wonder where aviva will be after that 24% dividend pays out, I just dont know anything about them so its hard to guess where they'll go

ING Canada Inc (IIC.TO) is weighing a bid for the Canadian operations of Aviva Plc (AV.L), the National Post reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. Officials at both ING Canada, which was recently spun off by its Dutch parent, and Aviva's Canadian arm declined to comment.

The report said bid preparations are at a very early stage and could be called off, but are gathering pace as the credit crisis puts pressure on the British parent to raise capital.

The newspaper added that there was no indication the two sides were close on price and it was unclear if an agreement could be reached.

ING Canada shares were up 22 Canadian cents, or less than 1 percent, at C$31.72 on the Toronto Stock Exchange late on Wednesday morning. Shares of British life insurer Aviva were up 7.2 percent in London.

SL has a canada operation

sabretoothtigger

[FONT=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]Standard Life EEV OP Pft GBP933M; Sees More Savings By 2010[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]

Edited Press Release
[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]LONDON (Dow Jones)--Standard Life Thursday reported an EEV operating profit before tax of GBP933 million for 2008, compared to GBP881 million a year earlier.

[/FONT] [FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]The company said the economic environment continues to be very challenging and the outlook for markets remains uncertain.

[/FONT] [FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]It said: "While market conditions mean that the outlook for retail savings is likely to remain subdued, we continue to see opportunities in the profitable markets in which we operate, including group pensions and fixed income investment mandates.

[/FONT] [FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]"As an asset managing business our revenues will inevitably be impacted by lower financial market levels. Our ongoing focus on efficiency will help mitigate the impact of this on profitability. In 2009 the Group will benefit from expense efficiencies achieved during the last year and will make a start on the next phase of delivering operational excellence, targeting a total of GBP75 million of annual efficiency savings by 2010."

[/FONT] [FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]It added in these conditions Standard Life will continue to pursue a 'capital-lite' strategy and to operate conservatively, ensuring that balance sheet strength and cash generation remain priorities.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif](MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]March 12, 2009 03:09 ET (07:09 GMT)




[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]Standard Life GBP134M '08 Net Loss On Soured Investments
By Vladimir Guevarra
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]LONDON (Dow Jones)--U.K. insurer Standard Life PLC (SL.LN) Thursday swung to a GBP134 million net loss, due largely to losses from soured investments.

[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Still, the company said its capital position remains strong, with a capital surplus of GBP3.3 billion, down from GBP3.4 billion in 2007.

[/FONT] [FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]It also said market conditions remain uncertain and that the outlook for retail savings is likely to remain subdued.

[/FONT] [FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]The insurer said its net loss in 2008 was GBP134 million on a European Embedded Value basis. This is down from a net profit of GBP587 million in 2007.

[/FONT] [FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]The variation figure on the company's long-term investment returns showed a loss of GBP849 million, much worse than the GBP17 million loss in 2007.

[/FONT] [FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Pretax operating profit rose 6% to GBP933 million from GBP881 million previously. This is higher than the GBP888 million average forecast from 12 analysts.

[/FONT] [FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Chief Executive Sandy Crombie said the company "delivered a solid performance in 2008, against a backdrop of the challenging economic conditions in which we have been operating."[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]"Our capital position is among the strongest in the industry and is relatively resilient in the event of further deterioration in market conditions," Crombie said.

[/FONT] [FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]"We will continue to follow our proven conservative strategy, with a focus on driving efficiencies while pursuing growth to an extent consistent with the prevailing conditions and our limited appetite for capital exposure," he said.

[/FONT] [FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]The company is recommending a dividend of 11.77 pence a share for 2008, up from 11.5 pence in 2007.

[/FONT] [FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Last month, Standard Life decided to compensate its Pension Sterling fund's 97,000 investors whose savings were affected after the insurer cut the valuation of the fund by 4.8% to GBP2 billion, acknowledging that its marketing "fell short" of its own standards.

[/FONT] [FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]The compensation has cost Standard Life a pretax charge of GBP100 million against 2008 profits.

[/FONT] [FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Standard Life shares are about 26% lower than they were a year ago, with market capitalization at around GBP3.6 billion.

[/FONT] [FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Its shares closed up 2% Wednesday at 161 pence.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Company Web site: www.standardlife.com[/FONT]
[/FONT][/FONT]

The full results are available on RNS

This RNS alert is brought to you by Digital Look. RNS Number : 7370O
Standard Life plc
12 March 2009


For immediate release
Standard Life plc
2008 Preliminary Results
12 March 2009
A solid performance in difficult market conditions
Operating profit resilient in difficult markets
-
EEV operating profit before tax up 6% to £933m (2007: £881m), generating a return on embedded value of 10.9% (2007: 11.5%) after making provision for customer payments to the Pension Sterling Fund
Cash flow robust with strong coverage of new business strain
-
Core capital and cash generation after tax £303m (2007: £334m)
-
Full year dividend of 11.77p, representing 2.3% growth
Balance sheet strength maintained
-
Group Embedded Value per share of 286p (2007: 285p) stable in the face of challenging markets
-
IFRS equity per share excluding intangible assets and minority interests of 151p (2007: 148p), with IFRS profit after tax attributable to equity holders of £100m (2007: £465m)
-
Financial Groups Directive surplus of £3.3bn (2007: £3.4bn) after allowing for the payment of the final dividend
Efficiency target achieved
-
Annual efficiency target of £100m cost savings achieved one year early, and a further target of £75m set

StevieJ

http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/090312/214/iiery.html

sabretoothtigger

If the market is working on the idea the economy has lost 13 years of growth then maybe it doesnt matter how shiny the boat is when the tide is out

Standard Life is going well after putting in a “solid” performance in 2008, raising operating profit before tax by a better than expected 6%. Operating profit for the year on a European Embedded Value basis was up to £933m from £881m the year before, but a drop in total return on embedded value to 10.9% from 11.5% in 2007 came after a provision for customer payments to the Pension Sterling Fund.

peston wrote:

The point of the Bank of England's exercise is to increase money in circulation, to ward off the threat of deflation and to stimulate economic activity.
In slightly simplified terms, if the Bank of England today buys a load of gilts from pension funds, those pension funds will put the money on deposit with our banks (the reason I mention pension funds is that the Bank of England tells me it wants the bulk of its purchases to come from non-bank financial institutions, such as pension funds and insurers).
Two things should then follow. The liquidity of our banks should improve - and with any luck they would then lend some of that cash to businesses or households, who would then do a bit of useful spending or investing.
And the pension funds should use some or all of that cash to buy other assets, anything from more gilts, to shares or property - which should have a beneficial downward effect on yields and interest rates and also a helpful upward effect on asset prices.
Now it's very uncertain how much of that good stuff will actually happen.
In an extreme case, where banks and pension funds are terrified of taking risks, the money could simply sit in the banks, doing nothing.

Aegon

Wynaendts said financial markets remained difficult and the outcome for the first quarter remained uncertain, similar to comments from UK rival Standard Life (SL.L), which reported a better-than-expected rise in annual profit. [ID:nLC149890]
The Aegon CEO said that writedowns were not a good indication of future results because fair value changes could turn positive if markets recovered.

Aegon books first loss ever, more writedowns possible

* 2008 net loss of 1.1 bln euros, 1 bln euros Q4 writedowns
* CEO says Q1 remains difficult, more writedowns possible
* CEO says no need for government capital for now
* Shares up 1.8 vs. 2.7 pct drop for insurance index (Adds CEO, analyst comments, shares)

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINLC13856220090312?rpc=44


aegon is some sort of potential partner or bidder to sl Ive read previously or maybe vice versa now
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2879854/Aegon-up-16pc-but-cuts-its-dividend-and-UK-jobs.html

Buddy195

StevieJ wrote: »

If only:D 1.90.

Did you hold or sell? Quickly dropped back down.

Just sold my SL. shares and made £100 not bad for short team investment lol. Shame my Lloyds are just over £100 down :mad:

StevieJ

Buddy195 wrote: »

Did you hold or sell? Quickly dropped back down.

Just sold my SL. shares and made £100 not bad for short team investment lol. Shame my Lloyds are just over £100 down :mad:

Still hold, I wish they would half the divi payout, would still be good but may help the share price.

sabretoothtigger

Sell on the way up? Im not sure the market has topped yet, sl dont go ex div till the 18th

[SIZE=-2]Friday March 13, 12:16 PM[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+1]Week Ahead: Prudential, Brixton, Friends Provident[/SIZE]
LONDON (ShareCast) - The life assurance sector has been regaining its poise after taking a knock following Aviva (LSE: AV.L - news) 's results last week. Thursday's results from Prudential have the potential to stop the revival in its tracks if they fall below expectations.

New business performance in 2008 has generally been in line with market expectations and the focus is likely to be on the Pru's capital position, especially as the situation viz unrealised losses and write-downs deteriorated substantially in the fourth quarter.

http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/090313/214/iiil6.html

sabretoothtigger

A british pound buys about 1 Canadian dollar and 70 cents or on this chart it shows pounds per dollar which I think is what we're interested in for business prospects SL has there




http://finance.yahoo.com/currency-converter?u#from=GBP;to=CAD;amt=1