Friends Provident reveals drop in new business and confirms plans for F&C

FP also confirmed that its protection sales in the UK were down 23pc over the same period and that Lombard, its HNW estate planning arm, suffered a 16pc decrease in sales. Further to this, the company reported losses of £19m from debt securities issued by Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual held within non-linked funds. However, FP International sales had increased by 29pc to £168m APE. FP confirmed it would be retaining ownership of Lombard and would continue to peruse opportunities to dispose of its share in F&C through a capital reduction, although it has confirmed if a buyer was fou...