LGII said sales increased to £568m ($894m, €682m) in 2011, a 27% increase on the record £455m sales it achieved in 2010.
The company said its International Portfolio Bond product, which was launched in November 2007, was one of the primary drivers for its success last year. The bond had assets under administration at 31 December 2011 of £1.2bn, with its whole international bond proposition experiencing APE growth of 27% during the year.
Meanwhile, LGII said, despite weakness in the second half of 2011, its insured bonds grew by 14% in the year to £119m from £104m in 2010.
The announcement of LGII’s growth comes despite the Association of British Insurers recently publishing statistics which revealed sales of offshore bonds fell by £480m in 2011 to £5.96bn from £6.44bn the previous year.
The figures, which it obtains from the eleven major insurance companies active in the offshore bond market, highlighted a particular problem for regular premium bonds in the fourth quarter last year when the fell 51% compared with the same three-month period in 2010. Single premium bonds fared a little better however, although they still fell 25% during the quarter. LGII chief executive David Fagen said the company’s growth showed a recognition of its technical support and financial strength.
“The key drivers for our success appear to be a growing recognition of the quality of our offshore product and technical support, coupled with an increasing focus on the financial strength and market commitment of our group,” he said.
“This has clearly paid dividends for us as more advisers recognise the benefits of offshore investment for their clients. Our research late last year showed an increase in the number of advisers recommending offshore investment to their clients. We are also seeing increasing use of offshore investment plans as supplementary asset accumulation vehicles for retirement by High Net Worth clients.”
The Legal & General Group meanwhile posted a £1bn profit, up only very slightly from last year, and increased its dividend by 35% to 6.4p per share.
