Saga share price outperforms as lifestyle group updates on performance

Shares in Saga (LON:SGA) have climbed higher in London this morning as the cruises-to-insurance group for the over-50s updated the market on its performance, reporting that it had continued to trade in line with expectations in the period from August 1, 2018, to January 15, 2019. The update comes ahead of the company’s preliminary results on April 4.

As of 09:46 GMT, Saga’s share price had added 0.78 percent to stand at 104.00p, outperforming the FTSE 250 index which is currently 0.09 percent better off at 18,446.07 points. The group’s shares have lost more than 15 percent of their value over the past year, as compared with about an 11.6-percent dip in the Footsie.

Saga updates on performance

Saga announced in a statement today that it had continued to trade in line with expectations for the period from August 1, 2018, to January 15, 2019, reporting good performance in its travel unit, with good progress on cruise bookings. In insurance, the company saw ongoing pressure on broking profitability offset by strong result in underwriting, continuing the trend seen in the first half results.

“We are making progress with our strategy to invest in attracting new customers across the business. In a challenging insurance market, the increase in new business has kept our policy count broadly stable,” Saga’s chief executive Lance Batchelor said in the statement, adding that its underwriting business had performed well during the year, while ‘healthy’ forward sales in the company’s “new cruise ships and the growth in membership are encouraging signs for the group”.

Analysts on lifestyle group

The four analysts offering 12-month price targets for Saga for the Financial Times have a median target of 147.50p on the shares, with a high estimate of 185.00p and a low estimate of 130.00p. As of January 12, the consensus forecast amongst five polled investment analysts covering the lifestyle group has it that the company will outperform the market.

As of 10:05 GMT, Wednesday, 16 January, Saga PLC share price is 104.00p.