Standard Life(LSE: SL) reported its results for the first half of the year today, and while the groups reported revenue came in below expectations, underlying figures showed that Standard has a bright future ahead of it.
Indeed, as more customers looked to Standard to manage their pension assets, the group reported cash inflows of 7.1bn during the first half of the year. Overall, during the first half, Standards assets under management expanded 1.7% to 250bn. These figures include the loss of one major client.
Unfortunately, even though Standards assets under management expanded during the first six months of the year, the company suffered from market volatility. Specifically, the investment return Standard generated on assets it manages for its insurance business fell significantly, and group revenue took a hit as a result. Group revenue fell 8% year-on-year, and gross earned insurance premiums declined 6%. Net profit jumped 400%, although this was due to alarge one-off gain on the sale of Standards Canadian business.
Underlying trends
Standards results clearly benefited from the companys shift away from insurance and more toward asset management a shift that should only accelerate growth going forward.
You see, companies like Standard,Aviva(LSE: AV) andOld Mutual(LSE: OML)are all set to benefit from the increasing demand for pension savingsduring the next few decades.
In particular,Legal & General, one of the UKs largest pension providers, believes thatover the next 15 years the value of savings inUKdefined contribution pension schemes will nearly quadruple to approximately 3.3tn by 2030.
The key driver behind this trend will be workplace pensions. Standard is the leading provider of workplace pensions in the UK, which really showed through in the companys first-half results released today. Moreover, shareholders are reaping the benefits from Standards growth.
Standards shift to a fee-based business model has led to a tripling of cash flow generated from operations since 2010. Most of this cash has been returned to investors. Since 2010 Standard Life has returned 147p per share to investors, including the recent special dividend and over five years the shares have produced a total return of 180%.
Old Mutual is also charging ahead when it comes to growth. During the first half of theyear, the companys sales expanded 18%. City analysts expect the companys earnings per share to grow by 9% this year and then a further 10% during 2016. Old Mutual currently trades at a relatively undemanding forward P/E of 10.7 and supports a dividend yield of 4.6%. The payout is covered twice by earnings per share.
Best pick
But one of the best picks to benefit from the growth of the UK pension market would have to be Aviva. After merging with Friends Life earlier this year, Aviva is now the UKs largest pension savings providers. This unrivalled scale should enable Aviva to achieve economies of scale and reduce costs to a level that will push competitors out of the market.
Its estimated that Friends will boost Avivas cash flow by an additional 600m per annum. The extra cash flow, coupled with cost savings realised from the merger, should allow Aviva to raise its dividend payout. Based on current City forecasts, Avivasshares will support a yield of 4.2% for full-year 2015, and 4.9% during 2016.
Foolish summary
So overall, Old Mutual, StandardLifeand Aviva are all set to benefit from the increasing demand for pension managementservices, making them perfect buy-and-forget investments.
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Rupert Hargreaves has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. We Fools don’t all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.