Aegon UK earnings soar as platform assets hit Â£107bn

Aegon UK chief executive Adrian Grace. Picture: Jane Barlow

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Life and pensions provider Aegon UK today reported a surge in second-quarter profits amid continued growth in its online investment platform.

The Edinburgh-based firm said pre-tax earnings came in at €35 million (£31.6m) for the three months to the end of June, a sharp increase on the figure of €7m recorded for the same period last year.

Chief executive Adrian Grace said the year so far has been “incredibly busy” for the Dutch-owned insurer, which employs about 2,100 people in Edinburgh.

Assets on its combined platforms rose to £107 billion, up from £102m at the end of the first quarter, with total assets under administration now standing at £151bn.

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Grace said: “The platform growth is due to a combination of exceptional new business flows and buoyant stock markets and the combined platforms experienced net inflows of £3.2bn.

“It’s clear that despite macroeconomic uncertainty, advisers are in a bullish mood and are benefiting from a demand for advice, which is driving these flows.”

Grace said that last year’s purchase of BlackRock’s UK platform and the £140m purchase of the Cofunds platform business from Legal & General, completed in January, had “fundamentally transformed” the scale of Aegon UK, which has more than three million customers across the platform and workplace markets.

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