Standard Life 2009 profit beats forecasts

The one-off changes to the life insurer's back book -- including asset allocation changes, hedging arrangements and actions taken to reduce the risk to certain tax treatments -- added up to 349 million pounds.

Analysts said the changes, without which UK-focussed Standard Life's headline profit would have been broadly in line with forecasts, clouded the group's prospects and were weighing on its underperforming shares.

"With that one-off number, people aren't looking beyond that. Looking forward, they are indicating headwinds because of market levels and therefore this business looks fairly becalmed," analyst Kevin Ryan at ING said.

"It is doing well in difficult circumstances, but that is about the best you can say."

In its first full-year results under Chief Executive David Nish, the former finance director who took the helm at the start of the year, Standard Life said its operating profit on a European embedded value basis totalled 919 million pounds.

That compares to a year-ago profit of 933 million pounds and a forecast of 668 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

On a statutory basis, Britain's fifth-largest insurer by market value said underlying profit before tax came in at 291 million pounds for the year, virtually double the figure of 154 million a year earlier and above market forecasts.

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In the UK, its core domestic market, Standard Life posted an operating profit of 506 million pounds, down from 658 million and again above expectations thanks to the back book changes.