Sales of individual annuities were up 47 per cent at Legal and General in the first half of 2019.
Customers bought £497m of the products from Legal and General in the six months to June 30, while bulk annuity sales totalled £6.1bn.
This mirrored rival LV's results, which reported new business sales for pensions and annuities increased by 46 per cent to £137m in the first half of 2019, compared with £74m for the same period of 2018.
This is despite annuity income rates having shown a decline in Q2 with the average standard annuity income falling to its lowest level since September 2016, according to data from Moneyfacts.
L&G's total assets under management hit £1.1trn at the end of June, an increase of 15 per cent in the period.
A key source of the asset growth was the £60bn of net inflows, with the company’s results statement this morning (August 7) stating a large portion of this came from customers in its Asian business buying passive investment products.
Profit after tax and exceptional items was £874m, an increase on the £771m achieved in the same period last year.
The market has responded somewhat negatively to the results however, with the shares down 1 per cent, while the FTSE 100 as a whole was in positive territory.
Nigel Wilson, group chief executive of Legal and General, said: “We are well-prepared for the full range of foreseeable Brexit outcomes and we remain confident in our ability to deliver inclusive capitalism, growing value for shareholders, customers and the broader economy.
"Our balance sheet remains strong. We have a globally diversified asset portfolio with minimal exposure to UK sub-investment grade credit and a £3.2bn credit default reserve.
"H2 has started well, building on the success of our H1 transactions including the c.£4.6bn Rolls Royce PRT, £4bn Oxford University Future Cities deal and c.$50bn Japanese global index win."
david.thorpe@ft.com
