Falling annuity sales have failed to stop Just Retirement achieving strong financial results for the last year, the company has reported today.

Profit before tax for the year amounted to £92.8m, representing an increase of 19% on the prior year's figure of £78.3m.

However, underlying operating profit before tax was £97m, 3% lower than the year before.
Total new business sales £1,751m, up 6%, but annuities sales went from £78.8m in 2012/13 to £73.7m – a drop of 6.5%.
Rodney Cook, group chief executive, said: "Fixed term annuity sales had been showing signs of improvement up until the Budget announcement.
"Despite the slowdown during the last quarter, sales for the last half of the financial year remained at the same level compared with the comparative period of 2012/13."

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Defined Benefit de-risking successes and strong lifetime mortgage volumes offset weak individual annuity sales post-Budget, the firm said.
Mr Cook said: "This was a year of extraordinary highs and lows for the team at Just Retirement. With the annuity market gaining momentum in the last half of calendar year 2013, the successes the business delivered in the first nine months of our financial year were somewhat overshadowed by the pension reforms announced in the Budget, and their effects on our final quarter.
"However, I am still extremely proud of our achievements, the key highlights of which included a successful IPO and yet another year of record new business results - they speak volumes for the quality of our people and our business.
"Our development programme is on track, and I believe that we have used our outstanding distribution relationships to ensure that we will be in the vanguard of the reformed secure retirement income market."
The company has put in place £14m of annual cost savings.
He said: "Despite the short-term setback of the Budget reforms, we remain confident that secure income for life, backed by our expertise in medical underwriting, will be increasingly valuable to customers who want to ensure they don't outlive their savings."
The next job is to offer "compelling" new products, he added.