Falling bond yields dent Chesnara
CHESNARA, the listed company that manages life assurance and pension books in the UK and Western Europe, has reported a sharp fall in third quarter profits.
The company made £3m in the three months to the end of September, compared with £11m in Q3 2013. On a nine-month basis the group is slightly behind 2013 with profits of £30.3m compared with £32.8m in 2013.
Explaining the performance the Chesnara said: “As a result of market performance the group results are less positive when compared with the equivalent quarter in 2013, when investment market performance was particularly positive.”
It added: “The group’s Q3 2014 pre-tax profit is broadly driven by economic conditions, in particular reducing bond yields this quarter compared to rising bond yields in the same quarter in 2013.”
Chesnara owns: Countrywide Assured; the Protection Life Company and in Sweden a life assurance business called Movestic.
The company has made several acquisitions in recent years, the most recent was Direct Line Life Insurance for £39.3m in November 2013.
Further M&A opportunities are under consideration, the group said in its interim management statement.
“We continue to see a number of potential acquisition opportunities and we will readily progress these if we see value and a clear strategic fit. While we remain open-minded as to location in the UK and Western Europe, we will continue to apply strict financial and risk criteria in assessing them.”
