Phoenix Group's incremental new business long-term cash generation increased to £1.2bn in 2022, according to its full-year results.
The company's results, published today (13 March) on the London Stock Exchange, revealed £934m of its new long-term cash generation came from its Standard Life retirement solutions business, while £299m came from its capital-light fee based businesses.
Phoenix confirmed the company's in-force long-term free cash increased to £12.1bn, compared to £11.8bn in 2021, which it said would be released over time to ensure the growing dividend remains sustainable over the long-term. The firm also reported while its operating cash generation decreased from £1.7bn in 2021 to £1.5bn last year, this exceeded its target for the year of between £1.3bn to £1.4bn.
The firm's results revealed through its Standard Life retirement solutions and pensions and savings businesses, it secured 76 new occupational schemes with assets under management (AUM) of around £2bn, which are expected to be transferred over the next 12 to 24 months. It also confirmed its £248m acquisition of Sun Life UK is expected to provide around £470m of cumulative long-term cash generation.
The company reaffirmed its intentions to boost its ESG targets to support its members' retirement outcomes with the transfer of around 1.5 million members representing £15bn in AUM to Standard Life's sustainable multi-asset default fund to support its transition to net zero. It also revealed it will invest approximately £340m of policyholder assets into a multi-asset climate solutions mandate to expand its climate solutions investments.
Phoenix Group chief executive (CEO) Andy Briggs said: "Phoenix has a simple strategy that is focused on the UK long-term savings and retirement market. We have continued to make excellent progress across all areas of that strategy in 2022, despite the challenging economic backdrop.
"Sustainability is embedded across our business, and we are committed to putting the planet and people at the heart of everything we do. If we are to live up to our purpose of helping people secure a life of possibilities, we need to play our part in tackling climate change and making retirement provision fit for the 21st century."
Standard Life CEO Andy Curran added: "The performance reflects the ongoing investment in both the business and proposition, we are now winning some of the largest workplace schemes coming to market. With £4.8bn of bulk purchase annuity premiums in 2022, we are helping companies looking to de-risk their defined benefit pensions and secure the benefits of thousands of members.
"The last 12 months have placed a real strain on many households and more than ever customers are looking to us to understand the challenges they face, with issues like securing an income from their savings or managing their investments. Despite cost of living challenges, very few are cutting back on their pensions and people continue to put money aside for the future.
"The current challenges place an additional emphasis on the industry to better support people to make sense of their finances and give them more personal information as well as facilitating access to advice."
