Legal and General saw its profits before tax fall from £1.1bn to £956m in 2011, according to its preliminary results today.

The figure, reported on an IFRS basis, shows a 12 per cent fall over the last year.

The investment division of L&G, Legal and General Investment Management, saw growth in assets under management as well as operating profit growth of 14 per cent from £206m to £234m. Assets under management grew from £354bn to £371bn, a rise of five per cent. Gross inflows remained consistent at £33bn.

Customers using the L&G Investor Portfolio Service platform increased from 152,000 to 420,000 with assets on the platform increasing from £3.8bn to £6.8bn.

This increase in assets was partly due to L&G migrating £1.8bn of assets from legacy portfolios onto the plaform.

L&G said the platform would benefit from the changes RDR will bring and said it was investing in the platform to reflect the changes to product fee and remuneration structure.

However, it said it could still be hindered by the late publication of final rules from the FSA.

Tim Breedon, group chief executive, said: “Legal and General had a strong 2011. All four of our operating business division- risk, savings, investment management and international- delivered increased sales, cash generation and profits. Our balance sheet is strong and our outlook for 2012 positive.”