Aviva's Equity release sales up 52% at Aviva

Financial services provider Aviva says it is happy with its first-quarter financial results, with some divisions showing rapid sales growth.

General insurance and health sales were up 16% compared with the previous quarter to £2.5 billion. In the UK, life and pension sales were £2.6 billion, an increase of 14% compared with the previous quarter and in line with the first quarter of 2009. Aviva’s pension sales were 10% higher than in the fourth quarter of 2009 at £941 million, while equity release sales rose 52% to £96 million compared with £63 million during the fourth quarter of 2009.

Andrew Moss, Aviva’s group chief executive, said: “This is an encouraging start to the year. 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. Our capital position remains strong and this second quarter of growth bodes well for the rest of the year, even though there is still a degree of economic uncertainty in a number of markets.”