Financial services giant Legal & General may be trading a premium to its peers, but Nomura has retained its 'buy' recommendation for the stock following a 'decent' set of results for 2012.

The insurance, pensions and investments firm reported full-year results on Wednesday that were broadly in line with consensus estimate, Nomura explained.

The broker said: "Although there were no stand-out-performers, each division did deliver growth year-on-year, both in terms of IFRS operating profit and operational cash generation."

Operating profit rose 3.0% to £1.09bn, 1.0% ahead of forecasts, while a 12% rise in earnings per share missed estimates by 3.0%. Meanwhile, cash generation, the dividend and new business figures all came in better than expected.

Nomura concluded, saying that while the stock trades a slight premium to the sector - at 1.5 times 2013 tangible net asset value (TNAV) compared to the sector-average multiple of 1.3 - it generates higher returns and delivers a greater yield.

The broker has kept its target price of 185p for L&G shares.

The results were received well by the market on Wednesday, with shares up 2.78% at 167.23p by 12:52.

BC

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