LIFE insurer Friends Provident's shares were priced at the low end of expectations - at 225p - when it floated on the London Stock Exchange today.

That means members' windfalls will be worth between £450 and about £11,000 depending on the size of their allocation, the Salisbury-based company said.

The group's 1.7 million members have each been given 200 free shares, with some members getting additional allocations depending on the size of their policy and how long they have held it.

Merrill Lynch, the investment bank advising the group, had set an indicative range of between 210p to 270p for the society's shares.

But turbulent stock markets, and a warning from Friends Provident that profits for the year are likely to be down, led analysts to predict they would be priced at the lower end of the range.

At the 225p price, Friends was valued at £3.7bn on flotation.

Chief executive Keith Satchell said: "This is a historic day for Friends Provident.

"We are very pleased with the interest that institutional investors in the UK and internationally have shown in Friends Provident. We are also delighted with the level of applications we have received from our members and customers which we are pleased to meet in full.

"We welcome institutional investors together with our members and customers as shareholders in Friends Provident plc. We are committed to delivering shareholder value and look forward to our future as a listed company with confidence.''