LV=’s retirement and protections arms negatively impacted by the pandemic
LV=, formerly known as Liverpool Victoria, confirmed an operating profit of £40m in 2020, up from a £16m loss in 2019, despite challenging trading conditions.
Such challenges, that came about due to the coronavirus pandemic, negatively impacted LV=’s retirement and protections arms.
New business sales in savings and retirement came in at £1.039bn this year, down from £1.143bn in 2019. While the pension provider’s new protection sales also fell to £263m.
In better news for LV=, the company increased its market share for the first time since 2016. While its pre-tax profit came in at £37m for 2020, its Solvency II capital surplus fell by £254m to £690m.
Mark Hartigan, LV= Chief Executive, said: “Despite the unprecedented challenges presented by the pandemic, LV= has delivered a good financial performance in 2020. Through the year we have created significant momentum in our trading businesses and I am particularly pleased that we increased market share in both Savings & Retirement and Protection. By taking quick and positive actions in response to Covid-19, as well as delivery of planned change initiatives, we continue to improve service for customers and have strengthened the propositions we offer the market.”
“We are reporting a strong Solvency II capital surplus of £690 million and an increased operating profit of £40 million. I am pleased that we have again been able to share some of the financial benefits with our With-profits members through the allocation of a £28 million pounds mutual bonus. This has been applied by uplifting the asset share of relevant With-profits policies by up to 1%.”
“The vast majority of our people have been working from home since the first lockdown in March 2020. I was impressed with how quickly our teams were able to adapt to home based working. It is thanks to the hard work and dedication of our people that we maintained good levels of service and didn’t need to close our phone lines at any stage. Over the course of the year we managed to increase our Net Promoter Score among financial advisers.”
Recent news emerged over talks of a sale of LV= to Bain Capital, the American private investment firm.
