Financial services provider Aviva enjoyed its strongest ever UK performance in 2006, helped by upbeat British savers on the back of last year's pensions A-day.
On April 6th last year the government introduced a single universal pensions regime which allowed savers to put money into more than one pension pot at once.
The development, introduced to help future retirees cope with the decline of company pension schemes, has boosted Aviva's UK subsidiary, Norwich Union (NU).
Total NU sales were up by 35 per cent on 2005, with a 40 per cent boost in pensions sales reaching £5.06 billion.
"This exceptional growth was broad-based, underpinned by an increase in customer confidence and supported by A-Day and buoyant equity markets," Aviva said in its trading statement.
The group's worldwide life and pensions sales rose by 18 per cent to £26.2 billion. Record sales and growth in Aviva's US business, including AmerUS, and in continental Europe both helped drive profits up to the highest range of analysts' expectations.
"These results show that Aviva is a world-class business," chief executive Richard Harvey said.
"Our scale is building steadily as we benefit from the investment we've made in providing customers with a broad range of products through the distribution channel of their choice."
Shares in Aviva rose by 0.66 per cent on early morning trading.
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