Pensions push L&G to £751m

STRONG sales of life and pension products in Britain enabled Legal & General to report a 10% rise in pre-tax operating profits to £751m for 2001.

The result reflected the benefits of L&G's tie-ups with Barclays and Alliance & Leicester, with the profit contribution from new business rising 35% to £217m.

L&G's growing fund management arm, which specialises in index tracker products, collected fresh funds of £13.2bn in the year. Profits from this division fell from £82m to £76m, though the previous year's figure included a £16m bonus from tax relief no longer available.

Chief executive David Prosser said the fund management business had secured £1bn of new money every month since 1998. Poor returns from falling stock markets generated a £688m charge, cutting pre-tax profit to £62m from £392m in 2000.