Interim results - 6 months ended 30 June 2006
Operating and financial review
Group operating profit before tax
The Group’s operating profit before tax, including life EEV operating return, increased by 27% to £1,699 million (2005: £1,318 million) driven by strong operational performances across all of our business segments. On an IFRS basis, worldwide operating profit before tax increased by 45% to £1,376 million (2005: £943 million). This strong set of results has been achieved by our continued focus on profitable growth from all of our distribution channels, leveraging our scale advantages in pricing and costs, our disciplined approach to underwriting and efficient claims management. This, combined with the Group’s strong capital position, has allowed us to grow our interim dividend by 10% to 10.82 pence per share.
| EEV basis | IFRS basis | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 months 2006 £m |
6 months 2005 £m |
6 months 2006 £m |
6 months 2005 £m |
||
| Life EEV operating return / IFRS long-term business profit | 1,021 | 857 | 710 | 510 | |
| Fund management | 33 | 26 | 61 | 41 | |
| General insurance and health | 866 | 694 | 866 | 694 | |
| Other: | |||||
| Other operations | 29 | 37 | (11) | (6) | |
| Corporate costs | (73) | (83) | (73) | (83) | |
| Unallocated interest charges | (177) | (213) | (177) | (213) | |
| Operating profit before tax | 1,699 | 1,318 | 1,376 | 943 | |
| Profit before tax attributable to shareholders | 1,284 | 1,739 | 1,248 | 1,124 | |
| Equity shareholders’ funds | 15,532 | 14,899^ | 9,526 | 8,774^ | |
^ As at 31 December 2005
