INSURANCE group Legal & General claimed that record results showed it could survive without merging with a rival.

The group, partly based in Sussex, had been hit by bid rumours, but it outstripped analysts' forecasts to post an increase in operating pre-tax profits of 20 per cent. Operating pre-tax profits rose 20 per cent to £349.6 million, compared with last year's £291.4 million. Legal & General claimed its shares were the third best performing stock in the FTSE 100, producing a total return to investors of 252 per cent in the three years to the end of 1997. Group chief executive David Prosser said the figures meant there was no need for the company to merge or accept a takeover bid despite speculation among stock market traders. He said: "We think we are doing very well for shareholders on the basis of our current strategy to grow the business by providing competitively priced products." He added: "We have the capacity, management and energy ourselves and I do not know what anyone else would add to that." Legal & General did not disclose its provisions for addressing the pensions mis-selling crisis, but Mr Prosser said the company was devoting "extensive" staff and resources to the issue.

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