Standard Life Shares

10_66

"Directors have proposed an interim dividend for 2009 of 4.15 pence per ordinary share. The dividend will be paid on the 16 November 2009." Paragraph 4.5

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Standard Life plc




2009 Interim Dividend - Scrip Reference Price


The Board of Standard Life plc ('the Company') confirms that the Scrip reference price for the fully paid ordinary shares to be issued to shareholders electing to receive the Scrip dividend alternative for the interim dividend for the period to 30 June 2009, payable on 16 November 2009, will be 186.90 pence per share.
The Scrip reference price is calculated by taking the average mid-market price of the Company's shares over the five business days commencing on the ex-dividend date. In respect of the interim dividend for 2009, this was the period 12 to 18 August 2009.
Scrip dividend timetable for 2009 interim dividend


Ex-dividend date
12 August 2009
Scrip reference price calculation period
12-18 August 2009
Record date
14 August 2009
Last date for receipt of Scrip elections
26 October 2009
Dividend payment/ Scrip issue date
16 November 2009






19 August 2009
Enquiries:
Barry Cameron, Media Relations 0131 245 6165
Gordon Aitken, Investor Relations 0131 245 6799
Paul McKenna, Group Secretariat 0131 245 1168


END

This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

If the share price rises beyond 187p by 16th of Nov there is some gain nominating to receive the dividends in shares not cash.


Thats 13 trading days ahead needed to speculate on the price to get any gain.
I dont think SL will go anywhere above 200 especially but maybe things will change considerably by end of October.

The risk would be paying for shares well over market price, which might also happen but its only gambling the dividend amount of 4p per share currently held


The previously profitable scrip dividend price was 180p I think

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The above chart I guess shows SL has lost its premium to the sector.

Some news here about bigger capital requirements demanded by EU, not sure if this might reverse the above effect in some way

New EU rules ‘will force up premiums’

By Paul J. Davies, Insurance Correspondent
Published: September 1 2009 23:36 | Last updated: September 1 2009 23:36

UK insurers fear they will be forced to tap investors for more than £50bn in fresh equity as a result of proposed new European rules that they warn would lead to a dramatic increase in premium rates.
In a startling letter to Alistair Darling, UK chancellor, the leading UK industry trade body warned the “extreme” proposals could destabilise the industry across Europe.





The Association of British Insurers urged Mr Darling and the European Commission to intervene over a threat “to the industry, to its customers and even to financial stability”.

Stephen Haddrill, ABI director-general, said the initial impact of the proposals would be to increase capital and reserves requirements of British insurers alone by £30bn (€34bn) to £70bn and added that similar effects would be seen across Europe. “In the UK, the impact is close to requiring fresh equity capital equal to the industry’s current market capitalisation [currently more than £50bn]. It is hard to see how such a massive recapitalisation could be achieved,” he wrote in the letter seen by the Financial Times.

“This huge over-capitalisation will mean investment returns in insurance will fall.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3070eb5e-9739-11de-83c5-00144feabdc0.html

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The blue lines I drew on but I did this to illustrate that perhaps the SL price is springloaded maybe.
It might breakout soon, Im not sure if it'll be up or down but I drew on a previous trend also in march to june and you can see there in June it fell out and down for a while, not much but just something to note I guess


The red bars on the side are volume weighted to the price. 190p is the magic number for this year past and any time we're above 190 its a positive momentum and below it we are underwater.
whatever happens I still think SL is buoyant long term ,though I'd like to see them with more international business for proper growth

Wed 11:33 UPDATE 1-Standard Life says Bank of China to take JV stake
AFX UK Focus
LONDON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - British insurer Standard Life said on Wednesday Chinese regulators are set to approve a deal for Bank of China to take a majority stake in its Chinese joint venture, Heng An Standard Life.
The deal, which would give Standard Life a smaller stake in a larger business, would, if approved, boost its distribution reach and turn the venture, currently a 50-50 venture between Standard Life and Teda International, into a domestic player.
"The commercial details, together with any further approvals required, are now being discussed between the parties," Standard Life said in a statement.
The insurer declined to comment on the value of a deal and on timing of a final decision by regulators.
Heng An Standard Life, set up in 2003, is among the top five joint venture insurers in China.

These subsidiaries are tiny but big positive moves could do the share price alot of good I think for reason mentioned above.
Ive not heard on India much, Canada I heard is underperforming but on the positive side their currency is strong/level with ours this year so I count canada as a long term outside positive influence and of course that branch is significant though growth of it is unsure

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LONDON (Dow Jones)--U.K. insurer Standard Life PLC (Sl.LN) Wednesday said it is selling part of its stake in its Chinese joint venture, a move which would likely bolster its cash position.

Standard Life said Chinese regulators "are in the final stages" of approving a deal where Bank of China Ltd (3988.HK) would take a majority stake in Heng An Standard Life, a 50-50 joint venture with Teda International.

Standard Life didn't say why it is selling its stake nor exactly how much is being sold, but the planned stake sale comes after rival insurer Aviva PLC (AV.LN) sold some of its Australian business in June for GBP452 million.

Analysts said the sale of the Australian business would help Aviva boost its capital surplus, something which is perceived to be needed by insurers in general to ride out the financial crisis.

Standard Life and Teda formed their joint venture in 2003, with each contributing GBP50 million. The combined capital figure has grown to GBP115 million because of the appreciation of the Chinese yuan.

Standard Life said Heng An Standard Life would become a domestic insurance company after the stake sale.
"Bank of China has excellent distribution strengths and there continues to be significant growth potential across the fast developing life insurance industry in China," Standard Life said.

It said more details about the deal would be announced at a later date.
The Times reported Wednesday that Bank of China, the country's third-largest lender, plans to buy 50% of the joint venture - taking 25% holdings from both Standard Life and Teda.

At 0942 GMT, Standard Life shares were up 0.7% at 194 pence.
Company Web site: www.standardlife.com
-By Vladimir Guevarra, Dow Jones Newswires

The currency of an investment can be even more profitable then the actual business performance hence why I think canada is a positive despite apparent weakness in the business.

It does seem they are reducing their chinese involvement, its only small but seems a shame. Hopefully its for a good reason not a general decision to turn away from international business, could be red china made them an offer they couldnt refuse

India may do the opposite but that country is convoluted to say the least



SL fell back a bit today but thats no surprise as they were top of the range

Standard Life to sell China joint venture
Standard Life is in talks to sell a stake in its Chinese joint venture to Bank of China, The Times has learnt.

The transaction would, according to insurance industry observers, also see Standard Life’s joint venture partner, state-owned investment agency Teda International, reduce its holding.

Standard Life and Teda joined forces to launch the business, Heng An Standard Life (HASL), in December 2003. The launch was based in Tianjin, a northern city with a population of almost 10 million, while HASL was capitalised at 1.3 billion yuan (£115 million).

Despite coming relatively late to the Chinese market, HASL now numbers among the country’s top five joint venture insurance companies, with some 5,500 staff and 42 sales offices.

It is understood that Bank of China, the country’s third-largest lender, is seeking to acquire 50 per cent of HASL — buying 25 per cent holdings from both Standard Life and Teda. The valuation of HASL is yet to be agreed but it is thought payment would be in cash.

One source said: “Standard Life and Teda would, in effect, be giving up half of HASL in return for a smaller stake in a much bigger business.”

The transaction is believed to have come up for discussion during a five-day visit to China by Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, which began at the weekend. He will meet Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Prime Minister, and other senior officials on the trip.

Gerry Grimstone, chairman of Standard Life, is among the delegation of British business figures accompanying Lord Mandelson. He was also one of a number of British businessmen who travelled with Gordon Brown to China last year, when Standard Life set a target of becoming one of the top five foreign insurers in China by 2013 and targeting 100 offices.

Standard Life last night declined to comment. It has avoided Shanghai, China’s largest financial centre, on the grounds that its insurance market is saturated. Instead, it has focused on China’s larger “second tier” cities, with populations of about 5 million. Its latest opening was in Guangdong, China’s most prosperous province.

At the time of its interim results last month, Standard Life said that, because of stock market volatility, it had faced “challenges” in India and China. Half-year sales in China fell by 1 per cent on a constant currency basis, but the value of its share of those sales rose from £42 million to £56 million.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/mergers_and_acquisitions/article6826739.ece

Standard Life was upgraded to "buy" from "neutral" at Goldman Sachs.

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Nice combo there, chart action and GS backs SL now for some reason.

Its well over due that the price should actually rise something above 200p since the ftse is back to last autumn when sl was at the time around 250


Apart some results end of OCT I'm not sure whats on the radar, could be an iceberg somewhere but Im not inclined to doubt the rise for the moment because I already trimmed a bit at 200 anyway.

We're past the previous 207p high and any resistance of around this level so it should be moderately easy for the price to stay afloat at this level, the sector is just about positive and I guess I will look at the sector chart later to estimate what happens next.
SL is very positive today relatively so maybe some profit taking tomorrow

29/10/09 11:00 Trading statement Q3 2009 Trading statement & Interim Management Statement

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Just drawing some resistance lines on the chart which are explained here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Support_%28technical_analysis%29


To get the actual numbers you can enter the stock symbol here, sl.l
http://pitrading.com/pivot_points.htm


Turquoise is the pivot level, we are above it so things are positive right now. No close above that first resistance means its still stuck in the groove








Last week sl just held its ground




Volume picked up alot in september which is a good sign for the price rise and a sign of more speculator involvement I think
On the surface the ftse will be most likely be down on monday but I think theres a chance of a further rise from here still

http://www.digitallook.com/cgi-bin/dlmedia/security.cgi?username=&ac=&csi=186960

Meanwhile, after the successful acquisition of Friends Provident, Legal & General (LGEN) and Standard Life (SL-) could soon be the next bid targets in insurance. Roger Nightingale, economist at the Pointon York Group, believes there will be far fewer quoted insurance companies in a few years' time.

He says: "As well as the problems they have with the stock market and pension funds, they face a steady draining away of general insurance business from the corporate sector, which is bent on using offshore tax havens to arrange cover for risks."

http://www.iii.co.uk/articles/articledisplay.jsp?section=Markets&article_id=10054464

Barclays Plc could make a bid for Standard Life's banking unit (Times).

no idea why they'd do this really except sl might well want to offload the mortgages. its in the government aps and barclays is not

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Nice rise today in the middle of a negative ftse which is always how I hoped sl would perform. They still operate a market hedge, not sure

however dont get your hope up too much ( I dont presume a plural ) because its most likely on the back of one of the rumours I posted above. Not sure how much truth there is to them, I've not heard of any actual material change to ongoing business apart from the chinese government buy in

We had a spike last autumn of 320 because aegon were maybe bidding for sl (they are both in scotland) but that fairytale died a very quick death

The sector is up by a similar amount so maybe its more broadly based then that quick spike

Merger & Acquisition activity is rising in general for a few months now to go with more free money supply ,I cant see sl being taken over personally but I wont argue with a higher price

sabretoothtigger

Over a month as well, SL moves with the sector.

So it is finally considered fair value and has lost its previous premium ?
Or it could be their cash surplus is becoming more highly valued in view of possible EU regulations requiring more regulation and/or capital in finance, the chairman has said he wont forget the lessons of 2003 which bought them to market in the first place ie. liquidity/funding









Sector rally stays on course