Legal & General businesses and balance sheet have shown resilience during the first several months of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a long term company, they take into consideration stakeholders. The Board has declared an interim dividend of 4.93p per share, in line with prior year, in order to maintain flexibility as the economic effect of COVID-19 becomes clearer. The Board will set a final dividend that is prudent, consistent with a risk appetite and in line with their dividend policy.
Over the longer term, Legal & General expects to maintain its progressive dividend policy reflecting the Group's expected underlying business growth, including net release from operations and operating earnings.
Other financial highlights:
Operating profit from continuing divisions of £1,128m (H1 2019: £1,154m), with 3 of 5 businesses delivering growth
Operating profit of £946m (H1 2019: £1,005m), demonstrating resilience as specific COVID-19 estimated impacts totalled £(129)m
Profit after tax of £290m (H1 2019: £874m), principally reflecting the formulaic impact of lower interest rates on LGI and the unrealised impact of market movements
Solvency II operational surplus generation from continuing operations was £0.8bn (H1 2019: £0.7bn)
