Just Retirement Partnership (JRP) has seen a drop in retirement income sales but for the group’s first year since the merger, operating profit was up 58%.
For the first annual results since the Just Retirement – Partnership merger, the group has seen a 13% fall in retirement income sales.
For 2016, the group, which has recently rebranded to Just, saw retirement income sales of £1.82 billion, down from 2015 when the equivalent sales were at £2.09 billion.
This drop in retirement income sales was driven by a fall in defined benefit (DB) de-risking solutions which were at £943.4 million for 2016, compared to £1.23 billion for 2015.
Annuity sales were largely flat for Just, up just 2% from the previous year at £778.1 million, which confirmed ‘the stabilisation of the market after the introduction of pension freedom and choice’.
‘It is our expectation that our addressable share of this market will grow in 2017, with increasing proportions of people buying this product on the open market,’ the group’s chief executive Rodney Cook said.
However despite the fall in retirement income sales, the group has seen a big jump in adjusted operating profit, which was at £163.7 million for 2016, up from £103.5 million in 2015.
This increase in profit was boosted by savings from the merger which were at £30 million and the group expects to make annualised savings of £45 million because of the deal.
Cook said the group is now close to finishing the integration following the merger and expects to make further savings because of this, in its IT and systems.
‘Our focus is on growing profits, but this will be helped by market growth. This is clearest in the DB de-risking and lifetime mortgage markets, where growth is already underway,’ he said.
Cook added the group has gone through a transformation over the past few years.
‘In the last three years we have successfully completed our initial public offering, addressed the 2014 budget changes, launched and achieved a leading position for our DB business in the market, transformed our retirement income offering from an old style annuity into a diversified proposition offering guaranteed income for life and flexible drawdown, completed the merger with Partnership and made great progress in integrating the two businesses,’ he said.
Source: City Wire