Friends Provident's Q1 sales beat forecasts |
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Fri, 28 Apr 2006 12:05
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LONDON: U.K. life insurer Friends Provident Plc. had its first-quarter life and pensions sales grow 26 per cent to 1.33 billion pounds as it witnessed stronger than expected growth abroad, the company said Friday.
The analysts had predicted sales of 1.22 billion pounds for the period.
Sales in the U.K. market were up 23 per cent to 856 million pounds. This has been mainly on account of higher sales in group and individual pension plans in view of changes in regulations, which are coming into force this month.
Sales of higher margin products like income protection fell, the company said, because of competition in the market.
International sales have grown 34 per cent at 475 million pounds. This has been possible because of a 21 per cent rise at its Lombard International Assurance SA, which it acquired last year.
Sales at Friends Provident International, which is another international unit of the insurer, hit a new record of 241 million pounds, up 49 per cent. The unit performed exceedingly well in Asia and the Middle East, the company said.
The insurer has reported its financials on a present value of new business premiums (PVNBP) basis. This provides for a better comparison of the sales performance of life assurance across Europe.
Chief executive Ben Gunn said the pension market is expected to remain buoyant. He added that though the company had cut prices, margins have remained stable. However, he was confident about the outlook.
"Our international businesses both had a tremendous quarter,'' said Gunn. "Our results demonstrate the continued strong momentum across our life and pensions businesses.''
The company's shares are currently trading at around 1.6 times embedded value. They were up 0.76 per cent at 197-3/4 pence Friday.
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Friends Provident reports robust sales, maintains positive outlook for 2006 