A sharp rise in annuity sales has contributed to first quarter growth for Friends provident.

Sales up until March this year were up 19 per cent rising to £178 million, compared with £149 million for the same time last year.

The figures showed that UK sales were at £88 million with a huge rise in the sales of annuities the main contributor to the overall growth with a 37 per cent up rise year on year.

Group pensions were down five per cent and individual protection sales down 4 per cent.

According to Friends Provident the one-off impact of customers aged between 50 and 55 wishing to retire before 4 April, when the regulations changed to increase the minimum early retirement age to 55 had an effect on the growth.

Trevor Matthews, chief executive officer of the Friends Provident Group, said: “ In the UK, our key priorities are in individual protection and group pensions.  While we are working to drive forward our new tied distribution deals, individual protection sales have been constrained so far this year by the sluggish housing market. 

“In the UK group pensions market economic conditions mean that reported new business remains slow but we exceeded the £10 billion mark for funds on the platform in the first quarter and the launch of our Corporate Investment Platform means we are looking forward with confidence.”

He also said that they expect the UK market to remain challenging for the rest of the year

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