City File: Legal & General unlikely to announce interim results

LEGAL & General is unlikely to announce interim results this week as good as the Prudential's last week, but things could have been worse. It is, after all, involved in mortgage indemnity insurance, but not as heavily as some competitors.

It had about 8 per cent of the market in the bad years and has already tried to make provisions covering possible losses all the way into next year. But with the housing market worsening all the time, it may well have to top up those provisions by another pounds 30m or more in the latest results. That should keep its profits down to about pounds 60m, although that is a considerable improvement on the pounds 84m loss it made at the same time last year after the first round of provisioning. That is scant reason to raise the interim dividend, however, which is likely to be held at 6.2p. Whether the share price moves up over the next few weeks may depend on whether the company suggests that it intends to raise the final dividend, assuming there are no further mishaps.