Chesnara raises dividend as profit increases

Chesnara increased its dividend as the life and pensions consolidator reported higher annual profit and solid financial strength.

Pretax profit under IFRS accounting rules rose to £28.8m in the year to the end of December from £24.6m a year earlier as commercial cash generation increased to £53m from £27.7m.

Chesnara proposed a final dividend of 14.7p a share, taking the annual payout to 22.6p - up 3% and marking 17 years of growth. The company's solvency ratio was 152% at the end of December - marginally lower than the 156% measure a year earlier.

Chief Executive Steve Murray said: "It's been another good year of performance at Chesnara with strong commercial cash generation supported by strong and stable solvency. Looking forward, we have clear line of sight to future sources of cash generation and remain positive about the outlook for acquisitions."

Chesnara shares rose 4% to 309.3p at 09:03 BST.