Lighthouse wins new affinity contract

Lighthouse Group plc

("Lighthouse" or "the Group")

Lighthouse wins new affinity contract

Lighthouse Group plc (AIM:LGT), the national financial adviser of choice for Middle Britain, is pleased to announce that it has agreed a new contract with The University and College Union ("UCU"), to be the preferred provider of expert financial advice to its affiliate members.

The contract will run for three years from 1 February 2016 and under the terms Lighthouse will be the preferred provider of financial advice to UCU members, encompassing advice on savings, investments, pensions and protection, plus mortgages.

The University and College Union represents more than 120,000 academics, lecturers, trainers, instructors, researchers, managers, administrators, computer staff, librarians and postgraduates in universities, colleges, prisons, adult education and training organisations across the UK and is one of the largest post-school unions in the world.

The UCU contract adds to Lighthouse's already established relationships with the Association of School and College Leaders ("ASCL") and the Association of Teachers and Lectures ("ATL"), Lighthouse is now a leading provider of financial planning assistance to individuals working within the education sector.

This new contract further extends a growing list of affinity partnerships, which includes major employee organisations such as UNISON, usdaw, Unite, BA Clubs, Prospect, Parliament Hill and the Royal College of Nursing, highlighting Lighthouse's capacity to deliver financial planning solutions to a diverse and substantial audience.

Linda Newman, National Head of Resources at UCU, commented: "We are delighted to have secured this contract with Lighthouse, which will enable us to facilitate financial planning assistance for our members on a truly national basis and ensure that they are able to secure financial advice in what often appears to be a very complicated financial planning landscape."

Malcolm Streatfield, Chief Executive Officer of Lighthouse, commented: "The Board is pleased to have secured this partnership with UCU, a new and exciting engagement for us. We look forward to developing our relationship over the coming years and working closely with UCU members to assist them with their financial planning requirements. The Board remains committed to increasing our affinity partnerships throughout the UK."

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About Lighthouse Group plc

As one of the UK's largest autonomous financial advice and wealth management Groups and winner of FT Business's Large IFA of the Year Award for three years in succession 2010-2012, Lighthouse provides a comprehensive range of services to businesses and individuals and is retained by most of the major trades unions and other affinity groups to advise their combined memberships of over 5 million members.

Lighthouse has been listed on AIM since 2000 and presents an integrated financial services company for investors, coupled with significant scale in terms of distribution through financial advisers and wealth managers and its fully diversified business model.

The Group aims to increase its relationships with and the benefits it derives from its relationships with affinity groups and professional partners.

In April 2014 Lighthouse announced the launch of its Lighthouse Pensions Trust ("LPT"), an unbundled multi-employer Master Trust product that provides a cost-effective and one-stop shop service to enable small- and medium- sized enterprises ("SMEs"), under the Group's Lighthouse Workplace Solutions ("LWS") branded service. Some 1.8 million SMEs are required to establish auto-enrolment compliant pension schemes for their employees between July 2015 and March 2018. LPT utilises target date funds managed by Alliance Bernstein, which manages $486 Billion of funds world-wide and is 63 per cent. owned by AXA, with Bridge Trustees Limited, a subsidiary of Eversheds LLP, acting as a corporate trustee.

In June 2014 the Group announced an extension of its LWS offering with the launch of the Lighthouse Life Trust, again an unbundled multi-employer occupational Master Trust product that enables those businesses that have agreed to adopt LPT to meet their auto-enrolment obligations to provide death-in-service life assurance cover for all of their employees aged between 16 and 65, for the same cost per benefit, at very competitive rates, regardless of age, gender, location or pre-existing medical conditions. The scheme is underwritten by Zurich Assurance Limited with Bridge Trustees Limited as corporate trustee.

Lighthouse operates from its headquarters in London as well as having principal operating offices in Stockport and Woodingdean, near Brighton.

For more information please visit: http://www.lighthousegroup.plc.uk/