Just Retirement, the specialist UK life assurance group focusing on the provision of financial services to those at or in retirement, today announces its new business figures for the year ended 30 June 2008.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Group total sales in twelve months to 30 June 2008 were £763.5m, up 12.8% year-on-year on the corresponding period (£676.8m).
• Annuity sales increased 9.6% year on year.
• Equity release sales were 27% higher year on year and 29.4% up on the previous quarter.
• Market shares in both products increased compared to the previous year, with annuities estimated at 5.5% and equity release at 14.0%.
• The FSA’s announcement yesterday, calling for the fair treatment of annuity customers, is expected to boost demand for enhanced annuities.

NEW BUSINESS RESULTS

£m (unaudited)	12 months ended 30 June 2008	12 months ended 30 June 2007	% change
Annuity Policies	604.5	551.6	9.6%
Equity Release Mortgage Advances	159.0	125.2	27.0%
Group Total	763.5	676.8	12.8%
£m (unaudited)	3 months ended 30 June 2008	3 months ended 30 June 2007	% change
Annuity Policies	143.8	149.8	(4.0%)
Equity Release Mortgage Advances	48.0	52.6	(8.7%)
Group Total	191.8	202.4	(5.2%)

Mike Fuller, Chief Executive of Just Retirement, commented:

“I am pleased to announce that the company has reported another full year of strong sales growth delivered against a backdrop of challenging market conditions. Critically, we have increased our annual shares of the annuity and equity release markets through our product, technology, service and funding advantages. The commitment from the FSA and ABI on ensuring a greater proportion of annuity demand is “shopped around”, the move to a stricter MCEV basis for our competitors and the widely expected long term growth in our core markets, all suggest that the medium term outlook remains positive for the company.

Accordingly, I remain confident of further progress in the coming year”.

Business performance

The UK annuity market’s growth in 2007/8 was below the expected trend rate as uncertainty continued to have a bearing on annuitants’ decisions and timing of annuitisation. We believe that the 9.6% increase in our full year annuity sales outperformed the market despite periods of intense competition and the entrance of new players into the enhanced and impaired markets.

Full year equity release sales were strong, showing a 27.0% gain on the previous year. The fall in year-on-year sales in the final quarter is a reflection of the exceptionally strong comparable period. Against the three months to March 2008, we have grown our sales by 29.4%, achieving a 17.4% market share in the quarter and 14.0% for the year; levels equivalent to our best performance to date. Recent industry sales figures for the three months to June 2008 from SHIP show a 14% gain on Q1, demonstrating Just Retirement’s substantial outperformance of the market.

Open Market Option

The FSA yesterday published the results of its thematic review on Open Market Options (OMO) under maturing personal pension and stakeholder pension schemes. The FSA stated that, in calling for the fair treatment of annuity customers they “will be looking for firms to demonstrate good practice in this area when we come to assess their overall TCF compliance.”

There were two parts to the review, namely the quality of literature (wake-up letters) issued to prospective pensioners coming up to retirement and the delays by some pension firms in transferring funds to new annuity providers. With 82% of firms surveyed either not meeting OMO rules and principles or only satisfying the minimum requirements, and with remedial action required by the FSA to be completed by December 2008, the impending changes should be highly beneficial to Just Retirement.

Examples of issues cited by the FSA included:

“Very few firms mentioned the advantages of shopping around for customers with health problems, who could be better off buying an annuity from providers offering impaired life or enhanced rate annuities.”

“Several firms did not make clear the value of seeking advice in making a decision.”

Preliminary results

The company will announce its preliminary results for the year ended 30th June 2008 on 10th September 2008.

Enquiries

Just Retirement	+44 1737 233396
Mike Fuller, Chief Executive
Simon Thomas, Finance Director
Scott Fulton, Investor Relations
Citigate Dewe Rogerson	+44 20 7638 9571
Michael Berkeley
Ged Brumby

A conference call for analysts and investors will be held at 9.00am this morning. Please contact Fay Wild at Just Retirement on 01737 233206 for dial-in details.

–ENDS-

Important information