US and Asia retail sales buoy the Pru
INSURANCE giant Prudential yesterday reported a 10 per cent year-on-year rise in third-quarter retail sales, reflecting its focus on its profitable US and Asian operations.
Chief executive Tidjane Thiam, in his first statement as head of the group, said that total retail sales grew to £699m in the period. Retail sales for the first nine months of the year were three per cent higher at £2.02bn.
But the company’s strict discipline on the type of wholsesale business it has written – and focus on high-yielding sales – meant that the total group sales dropped to £700m in the period, nine per cent lower than last year.
Sales at Prudential’s US operations grew by 66 per cent in the third quarter, with sales of £249m, while its Asian business saw a “return to momentum”, growing four per cent to £293m. The UK, now the smallest slice of Prudential’s business, saw sales drop 22 per cent, hit by the absence of a large bulk annuity transaction which lifted numbers a year ago. Prudential shifted its focus away from the UK after a strategic overhaul in 2007, limiting its appetite for capital intensive business.
But Thiam emphasized the importance of the UK to the group, which represents about half of its earnings and is a “reliable source of cash”.
M&G, the Pru’s fund management arm, experienced a 47 per cent rise in net inflows to £2.6bn in the period, as demand for bond funds spiked among retail investors.
NIC NICANDROU
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER,
PRUDENTIAL
Nic Nicandrou officially took up his position as Prudential’s chief financial officer yesterday, in time for the insurer’s third quarter results. He will also join the Prudential’s board of directors.
Nicandrou joined the Pru from Aviva, where he had worked for 11 years in a number of senior roles, most recently as finance director and a board member of Norwich Union Life. Prior to that he was Aviva’s group financial control director.
Father of three Nicandrou started yesterday after six months gardening leave, during which he spe time enjoying his two great loves: his family and Liverpool football club.
He started his career at PriceWaterhouse Coopers, where he worked for ten years in both London and Paris, specialising in insurance and more general financial services.
“Nicandrou’s knowledge and experience of the sector mean he is well suited to help lead Prudential to the next stage of its development,” said Prudential chief executive Tidjane Thiam. “I greatly look forward to working with him.”