Prudential's new insurance policies up 15 percent

Prudential, the second-biggest insurance group in Britain, said on October 23 that sales of new insurance policies climbed 15 percent during the first nine months of 2007, helped by strong growth in Asia.
Total group sales rose to 1.979 billion pounds (2.847 billion euros, 4.045 billion dollars) in the nine months to September 30, from the same period a year earlier. Analysts' consensus forecast had been for sales of 1.953 billion pounds.
"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," Prudential chief executive Mark Tucker said in the trading update.