Legal and General PLC is one of the UK largest insurers and money managers.
The Chief Executive, Dr. Nigel Wilson was interviewed on BBC Radio’s 4 The Bottom Line [http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/bottomline/all]
The Podcast for the interview is [http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/bottomline/bottomline_20130725-2100a.mp3]
Looking at the 256 page Annual Report of 2012, one soon realises the importance of Legal & General PLC
http://reports.legalandgeneralgroup.com/2012/ara/changestothereport.html
page 4: £406,000 million under management = £406 Billion
page 4: One of the largest investors in the UK stock market with responsibility for approximately 4% of all London-listed equities [yes, owns 4% of most UK listed companies]
page 8: 705,000 pensioners depend on Legal & General for pension income
page 9: Fiscal austerity – the UK Government has debt of over £1 Trillion, and an unsustainable deficit of £120bn
Page 11 is the most worrying set of data for society:
The ageing of most western populations poses considerable challenges for governments. in the UK, by 2030, over-60s will have grown from 22.6% of the population to 27.8% in just 20 years and the average 60-year-old woman will live until 88. Longevity and an ageing population are impacting UK government policy in three significant ways:
• The reduced ratio of the working population to the retired population makes it difficult to raise sufficient revenue from income-related taxes to finance central spending. This has been partially remedied by raising the retirement age.
• The state finds it difficult to finance retirement pensions. Solutions for this problem include the encouragement of private pension saving and changes in the retirement age and state pensions.
• Central government and local authorities are already finding it difficult to finance the costs of social care for elderly people. While the current generation is potentially able to contribute towards the costs through releasing housing equity, future generations may find this more difficult.
page 102: Largest 3 shareholders:
Schroders Plc 5.0%
BlackRock 4.9%
AXA S.A. 4.3%
page 151: Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, treasury bills and other short term highly liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less: £2,057 million = £2.057 Billion.
A well-oiled, efficent and highly liquid company, and the major investor in UK PLC.