Brexit expected to have 'little direct impact' on Chesnara after Dutch acquisition

Life insurance and pension management firm, Chesnara said its recent acquisition of Legal and General Nederland for £137.5m earlier this year was the cause of its soaring earnings in the first half.

Legal and General, later renamed Scildon delivered benefits for Chesnara from day one with a total £65.4m of incremental economic value.

Chesnara operates in both the UK and the EU and said that uncertainties surrounding Brexit and the future relationship between the two causes them little concern.

"The structure of the group, having established regulated entities in several European countries together with the fact we do not trade or share resource across territories, means I remain of the view that whatever the outcome from the Brexit negotiations, we expect it to have little direct impact on our business model," said Peter Mason, chairman of Chesnara

Earnings rocketed from £200,000 as of 30 June 2016 to £51.6m this year, an impressive 258% year-on-year increase, allowing it to pay a 2.9% higher dividend than the same time last year at 7p.

Divisional cash generation reached £54.8m, well up from the £9.8m seen one year ago.

Chesnara also mentioned that it was on the lookout for further acquisition prospects in the second half.

As of 0855 BST, shares remained steady, down just 0.15% to 378.94p.