Just Group post strong rise in full-year profits

Just Group posted a strong rise in full-year profits and announced that it had achieved a record start to the year.

Underlying operating profits were ahead by 19% to £249m.

That was thanks in part to Retirement Income sales being up by 17% to £3.1bn, driven by a 33% surge in Defined Benefit De-risking sales.

Commenting on the firm's results, chief executive officer David Richardson highlighted how over the past four years Just Group's performance had exceeded the commitments made.

"Our positioning in the exciting DB and improving retail markets underpin our confidence to deliver 15% growth in underlying operating profit per annum, on average over the medium term," he added.

First quarter momentum was also "strong" with Just closing a £513m DB transaction - its largest ever - alongside a strong start to 2023 for its retail business.

The company also improved its capital coverage ratio from 164% to 199%, of which 30 percentage points of the increase was the result of interest rate increases and the remainder of organic capital generation.

As of 1257 GMT, shares of Just Group were 10.32% higher at 90.35p.