Royal London reported a 15% rise in operating profit before tax for the six months ending 30 June 2025, climbing to £166m from £144m in the same period last year.
This strong performance was underpinned by higher protection new business and growing sales of the firm’s new Bulk Purchase Annuity proposition Royal London.
Among the headline figures, protection new business sales rose 14% to £455m (H1 2024: £399m).
The Governed Range, which serves the majority of its pension customers, saw net inflows of £1.6bn (H1 2024: £1.5bn), and its assets under management grew to £75bn as of 31 December 2024 (H1 2024: £72bn).
The company enhanced its digital offering, with 469,000 customers now registered for the My Royal London web portal.
Protection claims delivery remained high at 98.5% (H1 2024: 98.9%), with £415m paid to 33,000 customers.
Ireland performed especially well, with new business sales up 76% to £227m (H1 2024: £129m).
The firm also enhanced its Private Assets capabilities, including launching two asset-backed securities funds and, pending approval, acquiring infrastructure manager Dalmore Capital to support both BPA and Governed Range offerings.
Financially, gross inflows surged to £22.4bn (H1 2024: £16.3bn), while net inflows rose dramatically to £4.1bn (H1 2024: £0.1bn), helped by the multi-asset mandate win.
Assets under management reached £181bn (31 December 2024: £173bn).
Barry O’Dwyer, group chief executive officer, said: “For six years running, Royal London has been the most preferred personal pension provider by financial advisers, testament to the strength and quality of our customer propositions.
“Our new Bulk Purchase Annuity offering, the only mutual option in the market, is also resonating well with trustees and advisers as we completed eight buy-in transactions in the first half of this year.”
He continued: “Support from financial advisers has meant our Governed Range attracted £1.6 billion of net inflows in the first half of the year. This range offers valuable diversification for customers amid market volatility with allocations to assets such as real estate and commodities.
“The recently announced acquisition of Dalmore Capital will also provide access for Governed Range customers to the long-term, stable returns that infrastructure investments can offer.”
O’Dwyer also highlighted the benefits of Royal London’s mutual model.
He continued: “When most of our competitors perform well, they reward their shareholders with higher dividends.
“Royal London is a mutual with no shareholders so when we perform well, our eligible customers benefit through ProfitShare.
“In April, we demonstrated the value of mutuality by sharing £181 million with 2.3 million customers through our ProfitShare scheme.”
