Legal & General core operating profit rises 7% in 2026 first half

Legal & General Group Plc (LON:LGEN) has announced its 2026 half year results.

António Simões, CEO:

“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. 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.”

Strong financial performance^[1]

•  Core Operating Profit of £918m up 7% and Core operating EPS up 11%

•  FY26 Core Operating EPS expected to be above the top end of our 6-9% target range

•  IFRS Profit Before Tax^[2] of £1,997m reflecting a gain on the disposal of our non-retained US business

•  Solvency II Capital Generation (OSG) of £790m up 3% and SII OSG per share of 14.16p, up 7%

•  Solvency II Coverage Ratio of 201%, remaining well above our 160-190% operating target range

•  Asset Optimisation of £288m (up 36%); increasing our guidance to >£400m per annum

Leading businesses well-positioned in growing markets

•  Institutional Retirement: £5.7bn of Global PRT (pension risk transfer) written or exclusive as at end-July

• Asset Management: Cost income ratio reduced 4ppts to 71%; £1.2trn global AUM, of which Private Markets £79bn (up 22%); ANNR^[3] of £23m and fee margin expansion to 9.6bps, total UK DC assets up 23% to £236bn

• Retail: Retail Annuities volumes of £1.2bn and Workplace net flows of £6.2bn as at end-July. Workplace DC Assets Under Administration up 27% to £128bn

Synergistic business model

•  >50% of Asset Management ANNR³ in first half of 2026 supported by controlled distribution^[4]

•  c.98% of UK PRT volumes transacted with our long-standing clients in Asset Management in H1 2026 with c.90% of Annuity assets managed by Asset Management

•  c.95% of Workplace AUA managed by Asset Management, Private Markets Access Fund now over £3bn

Attractive sustainable capital returns

•  Interim dividend per share of 6.24p, up 2%, and £1.2bn buyback underway with c. £450m completed at end of July

•  Returning more than £5bn to shareholders over 2025-2027

Notes

A presentation to analysts and investors will take place at 10:00am UK time on 5 August 2026 at One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA.  There will also be a live webcast of the presentation that can be accessed at https://group.legalandgeneral.com/en/investors.

A replay of the presentation will be made available on this website by 12 August 2026.

[1] The Group uses a number of Alternative Performance Measures to enhance understanding of the Group’s performance as defined on pages 73-75.

[2] IFRS Profit before tax see Note 2.01.

[3] Annualised Net New Revenue.

[4] Controlled distribution refers to flows of assets from our PRT, individual annuities or Workplace businesses.