UK's Saga forecasts annual profit jump on strong cruise, insurance demand

Sept 30 (Reuters) — Saga, a British over-50s holiday and insurance group, on Wednesday forecast materially higher annual profit and said it could meet its medium-term targets ahead of schedule, helped by strong demand for its cruises, holidays and travel insurance. The company expects full-year underlying profit before tax in the range of £65 million ($86.14 million) to £70 million, compared with £44.2 million reported last year The company said it expects to log at least £100 million of annual underlying profit before tax ahead of its January 2030 target Saga, however, flagged second-half risks from low European river levels and disruption linked to the Middle East conflict Saga has streamlined its operations in recent years, exiting insurance underwriting through the sale of Acromas Insurance Company to Ageas It also adopted a capital-light model focusing on customer ownership and distribution, while Ageas handles underwriting and claims Saga's underlying pretax profit rose 98% to £23.5 million for half-year period ended July 31 ($1 = £0.7546) (Reporting by Neeshita Beura in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips) ((Neeshita.Beura@thomsonreuters.com)