Chesnara Plc. (CSN.L), the owner of Countrywide Assured Plc and Movestic Livförsäkringar, Friday said first-quarter profit after tax on the basis of IFRS declined to 6.1 million pounds from 8.3 million pounds in the prior year.
In an interim management statement from January 1 to May 17, the firm said profit before tax fell to 8.7 million pounds from 13.0 million pounds. According to the company, while equity market performance has been similar, bond yields have not improved, as they did last year, leading to a more muted result.
European Embedded Value or EEV climbed to 344.8 million pounds from 312.7 million pounds, driven by the net of tax profit of 27.1 million during the quarter together with a 7.2 million pounds gain from appreciation of the Swedish Krona against Sterling.
The company said acquisition opportunities continue to be examined and there are signs of a general upturn in M&A activity.
''While we remain open-minded as to location in the UK and Western Europe, we will continue to apply strict financial and risk criteria in assessing them,'' Chesnara said.
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