Hansard Global Plc

Hansard Global Plc (LSE: HSD)

Hansard Global is a rather odd investment and savings business with a £230 million market cap. The Company was formed by Leonard Polonsky in 1970. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2006. It collects fees by acting as a go-between for wealthy individuals, fund managers, financial advisers and life assurers.

Hansard is a holding company for Hansard Europe Ltd and Hansard International Ltd. It operates two main business centres :

The Isle of Man operation - which services the provision of life assurance services primarily in the Far East, Middle East, South America and Africa.
The Republic of Ireland operation - which services the provision of life assurance throughout Europe.

Its new business results for the year ended 30 June 2011 are as follows:

Summary
Strong growth in new business volumes at industry leading margins:
Present Value of New Business Premiums up 33% to £221.1m
New business margins of approximately 8.0% for the year (as compared to 6.9%in 2010)
Regular premium new business of £112.0m for the year is 62.3% above the level of the previous year 
Assets under Administration at 30 June 2011 of £1.2 billion have increased by 7.4% since 30 June 2010

The company continued investment in distribution and other infrastructure to implement new business initiatives and improve operational effectiveness.
Its founder, Leonard Polonsky was optimistic about its outlook on the back of new business flows. New business flows in the July-December period were about 50% higher than last year, boosted by Latin America and the Far East.

Hansard's dividend was lifted from 10p to 13.2p per share between 2007 and 2010. In February 2011 Hansard Global raised its interim dividend by 4.5% to 5.75 pence. This represents an 8% dividend income at its current share price of 170p. Its worth noting that Hansard has been paying out around 90% of its earnings of late, so there might be little room for manoeuvre if profits do tumble. However, at present this looks unlikely.

If you are looking for a high dividend paying company, with exposure to the rapidly growing emerging markets of Latin America and Asia, this could be worth considering.
 
Buy Hansard Global Plc (LSE: HSD) up to 180p