UK insurer Phoenix hits new business target early, shares rise

LONDON (Reuters) - British insurer Phoenix Group delivered about 1.5 billion pounds ($1.9 billion) of new business long-term cash generation in 2023, it said on Thursday, hitting its 2025 target two years early and driving a rally in its shares.

The London-listed company's unscheduled trading update said that its 2023 new business net fund flows jumped about 80% to around 7 billion pounds.

Phoenix traditionally specialises in buying up and managing books of life insurance business that are closed to new customers, but it is also expanding in areas including bulk annuities - insuring company pension schemes.

"We still love to do (back books) M&A, it's less of an absolute essential because we are growing strongly organically," Chief Executive Andy Briggs told Reuters.

Phoenix's full-year performance was driven by growth at its Standard Life-branded Pension & Savings and Retirement Solutions business, in line with its strategy.

That business reported an approximate doubling of workplace net fund flows to 4.5 billion pounds last year, including the transfer of one of the largest workplace schemes tendered in the UK market in recent years, the company said.

In line with previous guidance, Phoenix said it expected its Solvency II capital surplus to be slightly below the June 30 position of 3.9 billion pounds.

Phoenix reported seven bulk annuity deals in the second half of 2023, totalling 2.8 billion pounds in premiums and taking the annual total to about 6 billion pounds compared with 4.8 billion pounds in 2022.

Phoenix's shares were up 1.9% at 0905 GMT, one of the strongest performers on the FTSE 100.

The company is due to release full-year results on March 22, when Briggs said the insurer would also update on targets.

($1 = 0.7899 pounds)

(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru and Carolyn Cohn and Sinead Cruise in London; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Iain Withers and David Goodman)