Just Retirement racks up record £1.1bn sales

Just Retirement Group has reported a 47% increase in new business for the year to 30 June 2011, led by equity release sales.

Value of new business rose to £82 million from £56 million the previous year. The best performing product was equity release, rising 22.7% to £242 million. Equity release products are sold through a specialist distribution arm Just Retirement Solutions.

Enhanced annuity sales rose 11% to £893 million. Sales of all types of annuity rose from £804 million to £892 million, an 11% increase.

Full year sales amounted to £1.1 billion, a record for the business.

Rodney Cook (pictured), chief executive of Just Retirement, said: ‘This is an impressive performance given Just Retirement’s continued focus on profits and capital preservation throughout this period of financial markets volatility. It reflects strong demand for annuities, where we continue to adopt a competitive rate position, and resilience in a relatively flat market for equity release mortgages.’

Cook hoped capped drawdown and fixed term annuity products, launched this year, would fuel further growth. However he identified the retail distribution review and the European gender directive ruling, banning gender-based pricing of insurance products, as key challenges to the business.