Prudential's Q1 sales soar by 26% to $1.16 bn

British insurance major Prudential Plc, which runs a life insurance joint venture with ICICI Bank in India, today reported a 26 per cent increase in sales to 807 million pounds ($1.16 billion) for the first quarter of the year, primarily due to good performance in Asia and America.

The company's sales figure had stood at 640 million pounds in the year-ago period, Prudential said in a statement.

Prudential's new business profit surged by 27 per cent from the year-ago period to 427 million pounds in the first quarter of 2010.

"Our record performance in 2009 continued into the first quarter of 2010. We maintained our focus of allocating capital to the most profitable opportunities and have, as a result, delivered strong growth in new business profit," Prudential Group Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam said.

"This first quarter interim management statement represents a significant evolution in our financial communication as it includes new business profit as well as new business sales for the first time," he added.

For the first three months of 2010, the company's sales in Asia stood at 359 million pounds, up by 30 per cent over the year-ago period, while new business profit rose by 35 per cent to 183 million pounds.

"During the first quarter of 2010, Asian economies have continued to perform well. Demand for life and savings business is rebounding strongly to pre-crisis levels," the company said.

In the US, sales were up by 39 per cent to 255 million pounds during the first quarter of 2010, while new business profit grew by 25 per cent to 175 million pounds.

In India, ICICI Prudential saw a continuing resurgence in new business sales during the first quarter. Prudential's share of first-quarter new business sales of 73 million pounds was up 30 per cent over the previous year.