Prudential aiming to grow dividend by five per cent as insurer sees no surprises in third quarter trading
Prudential is aiming to grow its dividend by five per cent per annum, the insurer said today, as it prepared to host its capital markets day in central London.
The company said it would "maintain its focus on delivering a growing ordinary dividend", and added that: "The potential for additional distributions will continue to be determined after taking into account the group's financial flexibility across a broad range of financial metrics and our assessment of opportunities to generate attractive returns by investing in specific areas of the business."
Prudential reported that new business profit was £1.97bn in the first nine months of the year, and said that despite the "current period of heightened macro-economic and other external uncertainties", the group's diverse international operations and broad currency mix gave it support.
The firm's UK life business "has extended its successful new business performance of the first half of the year, driven by the continued popularity of its with-profits product range". In the first nine months of the year, new business profit from retail sales was 41 per cent higher.
Meanwhile, in Asia, the company said its performance "remains underpinned by positive long-term demographic trends and the effectiveness of our execution".
Barrie Cornes at Panmure Gordon said the broker welcomed the Pru's clarification on its dividend strategy, and added that while the company's update "held no real surprises", with the "backdrop of rising yields we believe that the outlook is improving".