Standard Life profits hit €334m

FINANCIAL services giant Standard Life has reported an after-tax profit of £305 million (€334m) for 2009, representing a healthy swing back into the black after it generated after-tax losses of £134m in the previous year.

The chief executive of the Edinburgh-headquartered group – David Nish – said 2009 was a successful year for the business and one “in which we delivered against our strategic objectives and built a strong platform for future growth”.

He added that the group has started 2010 “in a good position”.

“We’ll continue to drive shareholder value through being a customer-centric business, focused on long-term savings and investment propositions.

“We’re stepping up our investment in our leading corporate and retail propositions during 2010 and are excited by the many opportunities across our markets,” Mr Nish said.

On an overall group basis, Standard Life saw annual sales grow from £3bn to £4.2bn last year. Mr Nish called the total financial showing for 2009 “an impressive performance in a year of challenging market conditions”.

Although the financial results from Standard Life’s Irish operations are not broken out separately and, instead form part of its European operations division, the company’s recently published fourth quarter figures showed that the Irish division had a 5% sales increase last year, comfortably outperforming the local market, in the process, which fell by nearly 30% in 2009.

Standard Life has just under 80,000 shareholders here and about 94,000 Irish-based customers.