13th Nov 2023 16:06
(Alliance News) - A share buyback programme would be one of the best uses of Phoenix Group Holdings PLC's excess cash, Swiss bank UBS said on Monday.
The company on Monday upgraded its near-term cash generation targets after completing a funds merger.
The London-based life insurance provider said it completed its funds merger through a part VII transfer of Standard Life and Phoenix Life businesses into a single entity.
Phoenix now expects to generate GBP1.8 billion in cash in 2023, up at least 29% from a previous guidance of GBP1.3 billion to GBP1.4 billion. For 2022, it had reported GBP1.50 billion of cash generation.
For the years 2023 to 2025, it increased its cash generation target by 9.8% to GBP4.5 billion from GBP4.1 billion.
The company said it expects to have a significant cash surplus at the end of 2023 which creates "further balance sheet optionality".
UBS said: "This excess cash could be used for M&A, reinvestment into the business, debt repayment or excess capital returns to shareholders. We believe it would be value-accretive for Phoenix to announce a share buyback, given where its shares are trading
"As we have previously estimated, recent M&A has generated a [around] 10% internal rate of return, relative to Phoenix's dividend yield of over 11%. As such, we believe share buybacks are likely to be more value-accretive than M&A, but not more so than writing bulk annuities."
Phoenix had bought the rights to the Standard Life brand from asset manager abrdn PLC in 2021.
Chief Executive Officer Andy Briggs said: "The completion of the funds merger of the Standard Life and Phoenix Life businesses into Phoenix Life Ltd, bringing together 8 million policies, is one of the largest UK insurance Part VII transfers ever completed. This reaffirms Phoenix Group's position as the UK's leader at delivering cost and capital synergies and generating value for customers and shareholders. This funds merger enables us to materially upgrade our cash generation targets and creates further balance sheet optionality for the group."
Phoenix Group shares were 5.8% higher at 491.10 pence each in London on Monday afternoon.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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