Legal & General Posts Rise In 2014 Profit, Raises Dividend

reported an increase in its profit for 2014 and lifted its dividend by 21% for the full year. Legal & General's pretax profit for the year climbed to 1.24 billion pounds ($1.91 billion), versus a year-ago profit of GBP1.14 billion. Attributable profit jumped to 985 million pounds from 893 million pounds, while EPS rose to 16.54 pence from 15.00 pence. Its revenue jumped to GBP51.52 billion from GBP39.26 billion. Net premiums earned increased to 9.047 billion pounds, compared to 5.270 billion pounds. Legal & General's board proposed a final dividend of 8.35 pence per share, versus 6.90 pence per share last year. Legal & General shares rose 0.09% to close at $21.50 yesterday.