Shares in Scottish pensions and financial services house Standard Life fell back 3% yesterday as the firm warned of lower annuity sales.
The Edinburgh-headquartered firm said major pension reforms announced by Chancellor George Osborne in his March 2014 Budget were impacting on its operations.
The company predicted a £10 million to £15m reduction in annuity sales for the full year and the contribution from asset liability management to fall by between £30m to £40m in comparison with the previous year.
Overall, fee-based revenue increased significantly from £652m in the first half of 2014 to £761m this year.
Group operating profit before tax from continuing operations increased by £16m to £290m.
Profit for the period attributable to equity holders fell significantly from £196m last year to £69m.
The decline was largely due to a spike in “non-operating items” in the first half including a £46m regulatory charge in Hong Kong, costs of £38m related to the closure of its Singapore insurance business and £20m to restructure is UK defined benefit staff pension scheme.
There was also a £17m hit in relation to the integration into Standard Life Investments (SLI) of Ignis, the asset manager which it acquired last year.
However, there was progress in the period with group assets under administration growing to £302.1 billion. SLI seeing third-party net inflows of £5.2bn and the company welcoming 120,000 new customers in the UK through auto enrolment.
Outgoing CEO David Nish who is being succeeded by SLI chief Keith Skeoch said the business “performed well” during the first half of 2015 thanks to “strong demand for our propositions”.
He added: “It has been an absolute privilege to lead Standard Life for the last six years and to help build our business into the strong global player it is today.
“I wish Keith and the inspirational people across all of our group every success for the future.
“Standard Life is very well positioned to deliver ongoing growth and to help our customers and clients to save and invest, so that they can look forward to their financial futures with confidence.”