STANDARD Life today announced better than expected profits and said it planned to target a further £100 million of efficiency savings by 2012.
The Edinburgh-based company, which recently appointed finance chief David Nish as its new chief executive, said operating profits of £919 million represented a good performance in an uncertain year for financial markets. The 1.5% drop was much higher than City forecasts for a figure of around £662 million.
It added that it had started the new year in a healthy position after the return of investor appetite resulted in a 38% leap in UK sales to £2.88 billion over the last three months of 2009.
The company, which employs around 10,000 people, made savings worth £47 million last year towards its target of £75 million of efficiencies by the end of 2010. It will look to boost margins with another £100 million of savings by 2012, including from technology and procurement.
At the same time, Standard said it will spend more than £200 million to develop and promote its products in retail and corporate markets in 2010.
