Broker snap: Strong performance to continue at L&G

4th May 2011 12:16

Legal & General was one of the strongest performing stocks on the FTSE 100 during the first three months of the year, and Panmure Gordon expects the good performance to continue based on the insurance titan's attractive valuation.The broker said new business sales were "impressive" with life and pensions sales of £433m on an annualised premium equivalent (APE), compared with a close-to-consensus forecast of £446m (within the £353-477m range).The UK saw sales of £392m APE, 12% higher than the year before, as a 20% growth in the sales of savings products offset a 14% fall in sales of risk products. International sales were 10% higher at £41m, helped by a strong performance in the US.With the shares trading at an 11% discount to the broker's 2011 estimated embedded value of 139p per share, the target price has been increased from 130p to 139p to reflect this.---BC