Standard Life Shares

sabretoothtigger

Which one


Same as yesterday they start off early at 195 or so and dropped to 180 or so. Sector gapped higher and fell to yesterdays open, so sl moves with the tide



http://www.shareprice.co.uk/SL./STANDARD-LIFE

It is understood that the FSA wants to tighten the rules on insurers’ capital amid plummeting share prices in the sector.

[URL="javascript://"]Standard Life Canada earnings plunge[/URL]

MONTREAL - Standard Life Assurance Co. of Canada, the Canadian arm of British-based Standard Life PLC, said Thursday that premiums and deposits grew by 7% to $4.7-billion last year, but second-half investment losses and other special charges reduced net income to $3-million from $204-million in 2007.

"We showed continued resilience in the face of challenging market conditions, but our results testify to our focus on growth in savings, retirement and insurance products and our commitment to operational and capital efficiency," said chief executive Joseph Iannicelli.

Assets under administration totalled $32-billion at the end of last year compared with $35-billion at the end of 2007. The company maintained a strong solvency ratio without requiring any additional capital from the markets or from the parent company.
Mr. Iannicelli said unrealized losses on bond and equity investments of $124-million were fully reflected in net income due to the accounting treatment used.

Montreal Gazette

Yorkshireman_3

Palm_Centro wrote: »

Anyone else see the huge irony in all this?

Please explain -- not sure what u mean? im only a small investor - and getting old

Yorkshireman_3

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

It hit 195 and fell back, seemed fair enough to me. It held its ground which builds resistance for future moves but when the market turns I guess it'll fall back again also

203 is the target price for some and my own target of 230 would be roughly 200 at this level of the ftse I think

I wonder how l&g will effect things, I cant help but feel 200 is the top range for any time soon

SL is still at a premium to its peers by about 10 or 20%



http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=^NMX8570


Its building strength maybe, I was shorting it tbh but it held pretty good







http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/ratios?symbol=SL.L

i recon will be 200 plus within 2 weeks how about that for a prediction anyone else think that Obama has done it by buying up all toxic assets ?? hes the man :beer: think it takes time to filter through yes ??

sabretoothtigger

Well I wanted them to buy up/reverse lease/secure the toxic assets originally not buy shares, etc.

If he can get the private sector to reconsider the bad assets he could do some great benefit

Overall the outlook is not great, I heard usa will borrow another 3 trillion in the next 4 years due to budget deficits.
Who will lend them this money at low interest rates


If we assume SL will continue to move with the market, gaining no additional premium or perceived value to that which it is valued today then there is only a margin of about 5% extra in the SL price compared to the level of the FTSE

+5% of todays close would be 193.3 which its already hit a few times and fallen back.

If L&G sucks tomorrow then I guess thats bad sector news and the 5% discount increases to 10% or more





The sector has had a discount to ftse of about 10% since October, right now its at 15% so that would suggest little chance of out performance there also

Insurer Legal & General has halved the final dividend after plunging into a full year loss and boosting profit annuity credit default provisions to £1.2bn. It posted a European embedded value (EEV) loss before tax of £1.38bn versus a profit of £1.17bn in 2007 as investment market slumped. An IFRS operating loss of £189m (2007: profit £658m) includes the £650m cost of provision for increased short term non profit annuity credit default assumptions announced in February. L&G said the hike in provisions to £1.2bn is above the point needed to cover the worst default levels since the Great Depression. There’s a final dividend of 2.05p a share versus 4.1p in 2007.

Sir Sandy Crombie and the Board have agreed that the process of identifying his successor should commence in 2009. There is no fixed timetable and we do not envisage making any further statements about this matter until a successor is confirmed and a timetable for transition is set."

Sir Sandy Crombie will remain Group Chief Executive until the Board has appointed his successor and an orderly handover process has been completed.






25 March 2009

sabretoothtigger

Fitch Downgrades Prudential PLC, Lowers Ratings Outlook [FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Fitch Ratings downgraded Prudential PLC (PUKE) but didn't cut the insurer's key operating units as the company's results are affected by the volatile credit and investment markets.
[/FONT]

Yorkshireman_3

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

Fitch Downgrades Prudential PLC, Lowers Ratings Outlook [FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Fitch Ratings downgraded Prudential PLC (PUKE) but didn't cut the insurer's key operating units as the company's results are affected by the volatile credit and investment markets.[/FONT]

True but -- i like him heehhe :beer:

Yorkshireman_3

Yorkshireman wrote: »

True but -- i like him heehhe :beer:

Who knows what tomorrow brings -- April fools day :j

sabretoothtigger

If the Dow has risen 19% from a recent low then thats almost entering a bull market or possibly its about to turn back which means sl would fall from its grand price right now I guess.

buy low and sell high but thats hard to do with any certainty when the high price is what was previously the low price

sl is still moving with the sector pretty much which is poorly

tradetime

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

If the Dow has risen 19% from a recent low then thats almost entering a bull market or possibly its about to turn back which means sl would fall from its grand price right now I guess.

buy low and sell high but thats hard to do with any certainty when the high price is what was previously the low price

sl is still moving with the sector pretty much which is poorly

By that metric, both the S&P and the Nasdaq entered a bull market last week at over 20% each, somehow I doubt it, not sure exactly what the rules are of that definition other than the 20%, but since a 20%+ rally in a bear market is not uncommon, I'm sure there must be some conditions to go with it

sabretoothtigger

No I think thats it I think, not exactly reliable.
Bear is a 20% fall from the top, of course we're no where near to reversing that initial price loss (last June I think I first heard bear mentioned) or the many further falls that followed it.

It will be a function of time as well as price I guess so just a few weeks would not qualify as a proper trend I guess.





And more recently 2008:





I think this applies to American insurance companies rather then sl who only have the Canada division

TWO: Insurance Companies

Guess what large insurance companies invested in? That’s right, commercial real estate.
Now, if you lost your job and your house is getting foreclosed on, chances are you’ll look to either borrow from your IRA or cash in early on any life insurance benefits.
Expect these unprecedented withdrawals to cause swift changes to your policy and the amount and ease you can access your cash.

Just as the commercial real estate assets on these insurance companies' balance sheets are being hit, people will start pulling their money out en masse.

I expect a run on insurance companies next. If you are a shareholder or bondholder of a weak insurance company cut your losses as the market rallies.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/128472-seven-uncomfortable-predictions-for-the-economy


SL has not really rallied as of late

26th_march wrote:

Financial Times

PEARL DEFERS 33 MILLION POUND INTEREST PAYMENT
Pearl Group has deferred making a 33 million pound ($48.02 million) interest payment on some of its bonds, angering some holders of the debt which include well known blue-chip UK money managers. The deferred payment was on 500 million pounds of bonds issued by life assurance investor Resolution, before it was taken over by Pearl in 2007. Pearl has noted that while it has "sufficient resources to pay the coupon on the notes," it had "decided to maintain an increased level of prudence in the current environment by deferring payment of the coupon."