Legal & General FY operating profit beats forecast, up 32 pct
LONDON, March 7 (Reuters) - British insurer Legal & General (LSE: LGEN.L - news) reported an above-forecast 32 percent rise in 2017 operating profit of 2.1 billion pounds ($2.92 billion), it said on Wednesday, helped by reserve releases related to changing longevity expectations.
Analysts in a company-supplied consensus poll had forecast operating profit of 1.9 billion pounds. The results included a mortality release of 332 million pounds, L&G said in a statement.
Net (LSE: 0LN0.L - news) release from continuing operations - or net cash generated - rose 9 percent to 1.35 billion pounds.
Legal & General Investment Management, one of the largest investors in the UK stock market, saw assets under management rise 10 percent to 983 billion pounds.
L&G said it would pay a total dividend of 15.35 pence per share, up 7 percent and against a forecast 15.31 pence. ($1 = 0.7196 pounds) (Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; editing by Simon Jessop)