Christmas has come early for Legal & General. The insurer has seen “great momentum” this year, which has been “particularly strong” in recent weeks, it said yesterday in an apparently glowing trading statement.
So why did its shares only manage a feeble rise before falling 1¾p to 260p, particularly as it came a day after a well-received deal to sell an old savings business in order to focus on other areas of growth?
Part of the muted reaction was because most of yesterday’s guidance had been factored in by investors. L&G is delivering well on its strategy to expand overseas, with strong growth in the US, which Nigel Wilson, chief executive, hopes will help to gain the 181-year-old company the title of Britain’s first trillion-pound