Standard Life plc's Buy Rating Kept as Berenberg Notes Buyback, Growth Potential

05:51 AM EDT, 09/14/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Berenberg reiterated Standard Life plc (SDLF.L) at buy, as analysts noted the retirement specialist insurer's potential for buybacks and growth following a meeting with the company's management. "We met with Standard Life's management on 11 September as part of a group sell-side meeting following the H1 2026 results on 7 September. The key themes discussed included the margin composition of the Aegon (AGN.AS) business, which is being acquired, the outlook for funded reinsurance (funded re), and Standard Life's plans to digitise most of its client database in order to try to retain the outflows which are currently going to other life insurance groups or to financial advisor firms like St James's Place," analysts said Monday. "Standard Life also set out some of the factors which are likely to influence its strategy on buybacks, which we believe will be a key topic for Standard Life's capital markets day (CMD) on 28 November." Analysts are of the view that Standard Life sees value in recurring annual buybacks, although at a "relatively limited amount." The research firm said that of Standard Life's annual free cash flow of 500 million pounds sterling, 100 million pounds could go to the pension risk transfers partnership deal with CVC (CVC.AS), Prudential Financial and Goldman Sachs, with the remainder for growth and/or buybacks. Against this backdrop, Berenberg left its earnings estimates for 2026 to 2028 unchanged, alongside the stock's price target of 10.72 pounds.