Royal London profits rise on bumper protection sales

A near-25% rise in UK protection sales helped drive an increase in profits for the Royal London group in 2012.

The company posted an operating profit of £246m, up almost 4% on the previous year's £237m, not taking into account a one-off £97m gain made on the acquisition of Royal Liver in 2011. New protection sales at Bright Grey and Scottish Provident rose 23% to £482m, while the group's Republic of Ireland-based protection unit, Caledonian Life, saw a 344% increase in sales to £32m. The rise more than offset lower new platform assets and a decrease in net inflows at Royal London's asset management unit. Ascentric, the company's wrap platform, saw net new assets under administration come in...