Quarterly profit up at Chesnara
CHESNARA, the quoted holding company for a number of closed life assurance funds, has revealed a jump in first quarter profits.
The Lancashire-based group said earnings in the three months to the end of March were £13m compared with £3m in Q1 2011. It said profits had been underpinned by UK product-based surpluses of £10m.
Chesnara has several arms -Countrywide Assured, Save & Prosper Insurance and its subsidiary Save & Prosper Pensions and Sweden-based Movestic.
The company said that while the performance in the first quarter had been positive, stock market turbulence since early April had reversed much of the gains.
A statement said: “During the first quarter global investment market performance has continued to have a significant influence on the group’s results.
“The effects of these influences were generally positive, reflecting improving equity markets, with the leading UK and Swedish indices increasing by 3.5% and 8.5% respectively, and improving bond yields, where there were modest increases over the whole range of the UK yield curve.
“Insofar as equity performance and yield curve movement have had a favourable impact on Group earnings during the first quarter, a note of caution is necessary as continuing nervousness in connection with the Eurozone has subsequently led to a reversal of these beneficial effects.”
Chesnara said it was continuing to seek acquisitions and will “readily progress” if “we see value and a clear strategic fit.”
It said assets under management, the main driver of profitability, continue to grow despite the decline of some 8.5% in Swedish equity markets over the year to 31 March 2012.
Assets under management at the end of the quarter were £1.3bn, compared with £1.28bn in Q1 2011 and £1.22bn at the end of 2011.
