Britain's second-largest insurer Prudential today unveiled a sharper-than-expected 30% drop in annual profit and signalled no swift return to a higher dividend.
Chief Executive Jonathan Bloomer also warned that a sale of its majority stake in its loss making Internet bank Egg was not expected any time soon.
Kicking off the UK insurers' results season, Prudential said operating profit on an achieved basis had fallen to £794m sterling from £1.133 billion the previous year due to a poor performance in the US and Britain and a weaker dollar, which also hit some of its Asian profits.
As expected, the company slashed its dividend for the first time since World War One, by nearly 40% to 16 pence.
There was little news on the timing of the Egg sale. 'There is no point in trying to rush things through,' Bloomer said as he refused to say how many parties were involved in the four-week auction or how Prudential would use any money from a sale.
Some analysts have said Prudential could get a £1.3 billion cash injection from its 79% stake in Egg, which would provide some welcome respite for the company.
Bloomer said any increase in future dividends would be determined after considering investment in growth opportunities, the company's financial flexibility and growth in statutory profits over the medium to long term.
He added that Prudential would look for bolt-on acquisitions for its US life business Jackson National Life over the next few years but said the group was in no hurry to seal a deal.
He said the group was well positioned for future growth in its key markets of Asia and the US but repeated his circumspect view of first-half trading in the UK, where regulatory reviews, uncertain equity markets and low interest rates have kept consumer demand weak.
