Standard Life operating profit jumps 19 pct to $931 mln

LONDON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Standard Life (LSE: SL.L - news) said on Friday its operating profit jumped 19 percent to 604 million pounds ($931.49 million), though added annuity sales would be hit this year by government pension reforms.

Analysts polled by the company had forecast operating profit before tax from continuing operations at 559 million pounds.

Standard Life said it would pay a final dividend of 11.43 pence per share and total dividend of 17.03 pence, compared with forecasts of a total dividend of 16.89 pence per share.

It said assets under administration from continuing operations rose 38 percent to 296.6 billion pounds, against 294 billion pounds forecast.

"In 2015, we expect contribution from annuity new business to reduce by between 10-15 million pounds," it said in a statement.

($1 = 0.6484 pounds) (Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; editing by Matt Scuffham)