Aviva sales continue to recover

11th May 2010 07:11

Life insurer Aviva grew sales for the second successive quarter as its core life and pensions businesses in the UK and Europe pushed ahead.Long-term savings sales for three months to March this year rose by 16% over the previous quarter to over £10.2bn, in line with the first quarter of 2009. Total sales also rose by 16%, to £12.6bn, though both sales totals are still below this time last year.Life and pension sales bounced from the low point in the third quarter of last year to reach just over £9bn. Investment sales also increased, to over £1bin and general insurance and health premiums rose to £2.5bn, a strong improvement over the previous quarter, Aviva said."Europe and the UK are the primary engines for Aviva's growth today, accounting for 85% of our long-term savings sales in the first quarter. Sales have recovered and we've seen strong performances across our portfolio of life, general insurance and asset management businesses, compared to the previous quarter," it added. NAV on an MCEV basis was 505p up from 471p in the previous three months. On an IFRS basis the estimated net asset value per share was 395p, up from 374p. The firm's IGD solvency surplus was £4.4bn after deducting the final dividend.