Just Group full-year total new business sales up 15 percent

By Simon Jessop

LONDON (Reuters) - British retirement services specialist Just Group said on Wednesday that total new business sales for the year to end-December were up 15 percent, helped by strong demand from companies to pass on pension scheme risk.

Total sales over the 12 months were 2.8 billion pounds ($3.6 billion), it said in a statement, up from 2.5 billion pounds in the year earlier period.

The "excellent" results had come despite a year of regulatory uncertainty that had seen its share price swing wildly on concerns about the impact of planned changes to rules around capital requirements, Chief Executive Rodney Cook said.

In December, the Bank of England released final guidance that was not as tough as some had feared.

"Despite the challenges we faced we have achieved another year of double digit sales growth and helped more customers than ever," Cook said, adding the company was continuing to assess its optimal capital mix and level.

Sales to companies looking to pass on the risk from their defined benefit, or final salary, pension schemes rose 32 percent to 1.3 billion pounds, it said, reflecting a strong year for the market.

(Reporting by Simon Jessop, editing by Louise Heavens and Iain Withers)