Big sell-off is over at RSA

ROYAL & SunAlliance chief executive Andy Haste today called an end to his 18-month sell-off as he revealed further signs the insurer was finally on the mend.

RSA has decided to keep its £780m, 71.7% stake in Danish financial services and general insurance group Codan despite several approaches.

The decision comes just days after the group completed its move away from the life insurance sector by selling its sprawling UK life arm for £850m in another bid to shore up its finances.

Under Haste, RSA has been dubbed the 'Rapidly Shrinking Assurance' company after floating off its Australian operation, closing the door to new business in the US and selling a host of international units

Haste today said the group, the UK's second-largest general insurer, now had a 'well-balanced' portfolio of businesses and the major actions he wanted to take on joining last year have been completed.

Half-year figures today showed underlying operating profits for the six months to 30 June fell to £301m from £351m a year ago, at the top end of analysts' expectations, on net written premiums of £2.49bn.

Haste added that his downsizing of the business had improved solvency levels by about £1.6bn and the group was confident of meeting new reporting targets.

He said: 'We've made strong progress on executing our strategy during the half while producing another set of good results from our ongoing businesses.'