British life insurer Prudential posted a double-digit rise in profit from new business in the first nine months of 2014, helped by sales of pension services to companies in Britain.

The company said new business profit rose 17 per cent to £1.5 billion from a year earlier, after stripping out currency fluctuations, with double-digit gains in Asia, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Prudential shares rose nearly 2 per cent to a record 1,503 pence, before slipping back to 1,479. The company’s stock has risen 10 per cent this year, outperforming the FTSE 100 index but underperforming rivals Standard Life and Aviva.

Britain saw the largest leap in new business profit as sales of “bulk annuities”, where firms outsource pension scheme liabilities, compensated for a 47 per cent slump in individual annuities. – (Reuters)