Legal & General has announced its financial results for the first half of 2026, delivering a 7% increase in core operating profit to £918 million, and securing £5.7 billion in total Global PRT (pension risk transfer) business.
In H1 2026, L&G’s Institutional Retirement operating profit rose 5% to £646 million, supported by strong asset optimisation of £227 million, up from the £165 million reported in the same period last year.
The business delivered an expected investment margin of £346 million, a 14% year-on-year increase, while the store of future profit (CSM5 plus RA5 ) remained resilient at £9.0 billion, providing continued visibility over future earnings.
For H1 2026, L&G also reported writing £2.0 billion of UK PRT and £183 million of US PRT premiums amid a highly competitive market. Since the close of H1, the firm has either completed or secured exclusivity on a further ten global transactions totalling around £3.6 billion.
L&H noted that it has maintained strict pricing discipline in a competitive market and continues to rigorously apply a 14% minimum IRR hurdle rate to new business.
New business strain improved to £77 million in H1 2026, down from £88 million in H1 2025. This reduction reflects the company’s continued use of a lower strain sovereigns-based investment strategy for new UK PRT, and capital deployed on International PRT, Retail Annuities and Group Protection.
Across the wider group, the store of future profit decreased slightly to £13.0 billion, compared to £13.1billion in H1 2025, with the CSM of £12.1 billion, which held steady.
These figures reflect contributions from L&G’s growing insurance businesses offset by significant releases into Operating Profit, the firm noted.
Risk Adjustment of £892 million in H1 2026 fell slightly from the £952 million in H1 2025, driven by reinsurance transactions completed between H1 2025 and in relation to new business written before that period.
Commenting on the H1 2026 results, CEO António Simões said: “We are making good progress in becoming a simpler, more focused L&G. Core operating profit grew 7%, core operating EPS increased 11%, and we have completed c.£450m of our £1.2bn buyback programme. We have improved dividend cover by earnings and capital generation. We are pleased to confirm a 2% interim dividend increase as we continue to deliver strong and sustainable shareholder returns.
“The highlight of the first half was the performance in Asset Management, with fee-related earnings increasing 37%, supported by record Annualised Net New Revenue and a reduced cost-income ratio of 71%. In Institutional Retirement, we maintained our strict pricing discipline while writing or exclusive on £5.7bn of global PRT year to date.”
He concluded: “We continue to cement our leading positions in Retail. Workplace Pensions administered assets increased 27% year on year to £128bn and total UK DC assets under management reached £236bn. Our scale and the connections between our businesses remain a clear competitive advantage, which we are building further through improvements in operating efficiency. We are on track to meet or exceed our strategic targets.”
