Individual sales volumes up 9% in Q1 2012

Legal & General’s individual protection sales achieved their strongest quarter since 2008 in the first three months of this year, reveal figures out today.

By volume, individual protection sales increased by 9% between Q1 2011 and Q1 2012, from £33m to £36m.

Approximately half of these policies were for family or business protection, while the other half were linked to a mortgage.

Group protection sales, however, were down by 20% year-on-year at £12m, compared to £15m in Q1 2011.

Legal & General described activity levels for both individual and group protection as ‘good’, adding that it expected Q2 group sales to materially exceed those of Q1.

Overall, Legal & General reported operational cash generation of £249m for Q1 2012, up from £245m in Q1 2011, and net cash generation of £210m, up from £209m a year ago.

Its assets totalled £383bn, up from £371bn in Q1 2011, while its risk sales were up 8% at £78m, compared to £72m in Q1 2011.

Tim Breedon (pictured), group chief executive of Legal & General, said: “The strength of Legal & General’s diversified model has enabled us to deliver strong sales in risk, increased net inflows to Legal & General Investment Management and another good performance on cash generation this quarter.”

He added: “Although we expect market conditions to remain challenging, we remain confident in our ability to continue delivering growth in scale together with substantial cash generation in 2012 and beyond.”