Skandia "neutral”

02/20/04 - J.P. Morgan Securities

LONDON, February 20 (New Ratings) – Analyst Nicholas Byrne of JP Morgan Securities maintains his "neutral” rating on Skandia (SDIA.SS).

Shares of Skandia, an insurance company that operates in Europe, are currently trading at SEK34.40.

According to JP Morgan Securities' research note published this morning, Skandia is expected to post its 2003 results on February 27. The company is expected to announce its result of operations at SEK2206 million, as compared to SEK2268 million in 2002, the analyst says. The result of operations in Q4 is expected to be SEK585 million, as compared to SEK491 million in Q3:03, the analyst adds.

According to JP Morgan Securities, investors are likely to focus on Skandia's margin developments in 2003. The analyst expects the company's Q4 margins to show signs of a marginal improvement. The company's UK division is likely to post strong margin improvements for the fourth quarter on the back of better-than-expected quarterly sales, JP Morgan Securities adds.

The P/E estimates for 2003 and 2004 are 20.5x and 21.1x, respectively.

JP Morgan Securities maintains its “neutral” rating on Skandia.