Aviva has delivered better-than-expected first quarter sales, buoyed by rapid growth in the UK.
Aviva said total life and pensions new business sales for the first three months of 2006 increased 20% to £6.788bn on a present value of new business premiums basis, from £5.659bn a year earlier, and ahead of the consensus analyst forecast of £6.075bn.
The improvement was driven by the UK, where sales jumped 27% to £2.76bn, outpacing the overseas division, where they rose 16% to £3.476bn.
The profit from UK new business came in at £77m, giving a margin of 2.8%, down from 3.1% a year earlier.
Richard Harvey, Aviva chief executive, said: "Aviva is in excellent shape and our balanced portfolio means we are better positioned than ever to seize profitable market opportunities."
Mikar Shah, an analyst at Fox-Pitt, Kelton, that has an 'in-line stance on the shares, said: "These are quite good numbers, actually. Higher pensions business is always going to have an impact on margins because, because it's a lower margin product."
By 11.10am the share price was down 1.54% to 800p.
