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Prudential has reported a 15 per cent increase in sales over the first nine months of the year, despite a weaker performance in the UK.

The UK's second-largest life insurer said sales across its operations climbed to £1.98 billion in the nine months to September 30th.

Strong growth across Prudential's Asian and US operations boosted the company's performance, which exceeded analyst expectations.

Year-to-date sales in Asia increased by 48 per cent, to £939 million, compared to the corresponding period of 2006. Prudential stressed that it had already exceeded the £908 million in sales achieved for the whole of 2006.

Growth was particularly significant in Taiwan, where sales were 90 per cent higher during the first nine months of the year than in the same period of 2006. Prudential said that the pace of growth within its Indian business also remained strong, with sales up 64 per cent over the period.

A solid performance was also reported for the US, where sales climbed by 20 per cent to £511 million over the nine months. Prudential said the increase was driven by a continued growth in sales of variable annuities. The company revealed that its US business delivered "record" variable annuity sales of £3.4 billion in the first three quarters of 2007, up 33 per cent on the corresponding period of last year.

However the insurer's UK results for the first nine months of the year are less impressive, with total sales down 20 per cent to £529 million. Prudential said the decrease was due to the non-recurrence of two large back-book deals completed in the first half of 2006 and £45 million of credit life sales achieved during the first nine months of last year under a contract with the Lloyds TSB bank which has not been renewed.

Nonetheless overall retail sales in the UK during the first nine months of 2007 climbed by eight per cent year-on-year to £523 million, driven by a strong performance in individual annuities and corporate pensions.

Commenting on the group's combined results Prudential chief executive Mark Tucker said: "These new business numbers demonstrate that there is real and continued momentum across the group, building on the strong growth of the past two years."