The shares of Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) (NASDAQOTH: LGGNY.US) slipped 3% to 211p this morning after the FTSE 100 pensions giant revealed third-quarter results in line with market expectations.
The group’s Total Assets Under Management — the base from which L&G charges its fees — climbed by 2.3% to reach £443bn. Fund inflows from international sources made a significant contribution, with £6.4bn added from divisions in the US, the Gulf, Europe and beyond.
International funds now total £57bn for L&G, having climbed by an impressive £14bn since the start of 2013.
In the UK, the more transparent RDR fund rules and auto-enrolment pensions appear to be working in Legal & General’s favour. Nigel Wilson, L&G chief executive, piled the pressure on competitors by asking the government to lower the cap on auto-enrolment pension fees:
“We have capped auto enrolment charges at 50bps – and we believe nobody saving for a workplace pension in standard default funds should have to pay more than this. The government’s proposed 75bps cap needs to be strengthened in our opinion: reducing it to 50bps could benefit pension savers by tens of thousands of pounds over a working lifetime”
With a market cap of £12.5bn, L&G’s shares trade at 14 times expected earnings, and offer a prospective dividend yield of 4.6%.
