Colin Morton (born 1948) is a Canadian poet. (wikipedia)
Margins are much more of an issue than they were, but hopefully if they can get the growth, it should help offset any margin pressure they see.
The long-term question is if they can get extra revenues out of these services. I'm not convinced.
The business really does seem to be firing on all cylinders at the moment.
You can't argue with 29 percent growth in worldwide new business.
The life insurers are finding that some of the new products they sell are not making anywhere near the margins their older products used to make.
These (infrastructure) companies have a very consistent income stream, and they are borrowing money relatively cheaply at the moment.
This is no real surprise -- had been groomed to take over the job. What is more interesting is why Crosby has decided to go now. Maybe he felt it was time to go, or was it a case of giving it to Hornby now or else he would go somewhere else?
As a shareholder you get nervous when companies say they are looking at the U.S., because historically, UK firms haven't made a good fist of it over there.
They are doing a very good job of controlling costs, which is what you want when things are a bit tougher.
Market confidence towards savings products seems to have returned. As a result, the life insurance sector is getting back on track after a couple of tough years.