It's difficult to find anything wrong with these numbers. All three regions are growing.
We think the market was too pessimistic on Asia. The only issue is that the main growth is in low margin markets like India, Korea and Taiwan.
The continental business was the main star, showing strong year-on-year growth and improving margins.
The discipline of not doing something value-destructive to them is a good thing.
In terms of maintaining independence, strong sales growth, particularly Asia, is a plus. The headline figure should relax pressure on management.
Bulk annuities did compensate this quarter, but this weakness remains an issue given that annuities supply 50% of Legal & General's new business profits.
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