Rothesay Life, the pensions insurer owned by Goldman Sachs, has reported a 38% jump in pre-tax profits to £266m for 2012, a result that chief executive Addy Loudiadis put down to "good business as usual", and which allowed the firm to pay out its first-ever dividend, of £225m, to its parent.

The specialist insurer, which acquires and manages closed company pension schemes, said it had £6.9bn under management at the end of the year, up from £5.5bn at the end of 2011, according to its full-year figures released this morning. Its deals last year included the £680m buyout of a closed section of the £3.2bn Merchant Navy Officers' Pension Fund.