Standard & Poor’s upgrades Royal London
Tuesday, 15 February 2005
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services (S&P) has upgraded its outlook for Royal London, the mutual financial services company, from negative to stable, at the same time re-affirming the company's 'A-' long-term credit rating.
The decision reflects S&P's view that Royal London is better positioned to compete in the UK intermediary market following action taken over the past 12 months.
Standard & Poor's announced that the upgrading "reflects management actions taken to improve Royal London's competitive position in the pensions and protection market over the last year", listing in particular the company's "focus on IT, service and product innovation". The agency also stated that the rating is "supported by revitalized operational capabilities, strong capitalization and strong financial flexibility".
Welcoming the announcement, Mike Yardley, Group Chief Executive of Royal London, said:
"We are delighted that our efforts, particularly over the last 12 months, have been recognised by S&P and are reflected in its outlook on the company.
"Following a review of operations in 2004, Group strategy has been to focus on the successful growth of our product manufacturing businesses -- Scottish Life, Bright Grey, and Royal London Asset Management – all of which distribute through intermediaries.
"These specialist businesses performed extremely well in 2004, increasing market share and improving profitability. And with some evidence of increasing consumer confidence in the marketplace, we believe that we will continue to deliver good business performance in 2005 and beyond."
- ENDS -
For further information please contact:
Royal London
Alasdair Buchanan
Group Head of Communications
Tel: 0131 456 7133
Mobile: 07919 170 413
Editor's Notes:
Royal London was founded in 1861, initially as a friendly society, and became a mutual life insurance company in 1908. Royal London is one of the stronger life and pension companies in the UK, with a current rating of 7/10 from Cazalet Financial Consulting, and has a particularly strong track record for with profits performance.
The Royal London Group has funds under management of around £24.7 billion. Group businesses serve around 3 million customers and employ around 3200 people. (Figures quoted are as at 31 December 2004)
In April 2000, Royal London acquired United Assurance Group, which was formed from the merger of United Friendly and Refuge Assurance. Following the acquisition of Scottish Life in July 2001, Royal London has a strong distribution presence in the IFA market.
Royal London is one of the founding members of the Association of Mutual Insurers (AMI).