E-mail error prompts L&G trading update

Insurer Legal & General yesterday rushed out a trading update more than two weeks early after the numbers were mistakenly sent to analysts.

The firm said it had to issue the figures after several analysts received an e-mail containing the market-sensitive information on Thursday.

In a statement, L&G said: "Actual 2009 numbers and a sub-set of working draft Q3 2010 numbers were inadvertently e-mailed to several analysts (on Thursday] after 4pm. Therefore, we have decided to release the actual numbers to the market."

The update was issued just before the London market opened yesterday. Asked whether it could have been issued earlier, a company spokesman replied: "Our view was that the market needed to be informed of the correct numbers before the market opened this morning, and this is what happened."

The Financial Services Authority said it had no comment to make on what had occurred.

The L&G numbers showed new gross funds for the third quarter were 5.63 billion. For the first nine months, they stood at 27.6bn, some 13 per cent higher.

Brokerage Shore Capital said the insurer's headline third-quarter numbers made "excellent reading for investors," and kept a "buy" rating on L&G shares.

Legal & General said it would publish a more detailed trading update on 9 November, when it was originally set to have issued the figures.