Life and pensions business at Aegon UK picked up in the second quarter of the year to show a 10% advance on last year and lift first-half growth to 4%, in line with industry rivals.

Life and pensions business at Aegon UK picked up in the second quarter of the year to show a 10% advance on last year and lift first-half growth to 4%, in line with industry rivals.

The Edinburgh-based insurer yesterday delivered another set of solid business figures, though underlying pre-tax profits slid by 22% to £72m, reflecting market falls.

New business profitability, Aegon's favoured metric, rose by 31% to £51m over the recent quarter and by 16% to £91m in the first half.

Aegon said it had responded to difficult markets by achieving growth in the corporate pension market, which was less sensitive to short term volatility, and by continuing to focus on its range of guaranteed products in the at-retirement market. It launched new products including Income for Life, its "third way" annuity, and pulled off an innovative securitisation deal which released £250m of capital to its European parent.

Mark Laidlaw, finance director, said the figures were pleasing given the strong comparative period a year ago.

"That shows our diversification programme is coming through," he said. Aegon entered the annuity market three years ago and the first half saw individual annuities up 17% to £70m, while its individual protection business, which targets business and avoids the mortgage market, rose by 16% to £26m.

Overall life and pensions business was up 4% to £630m, driven by corporate pensions - both in increments to existing schemes, up 22% to £169m, and in new scheme activity, up 35% to £90m. "This market is less sensitive to short term volatility as there is a greater emphasis on long-term investment decisions," the company said.

It said Aegon Asset Management business faced challenging market conditions "but remains one of the few fund management groups maintaining positive net inflows of new business".

Andrew Fleming, head of asset management in Edinburgh, has been appointed head of European asset management by Aegon's new chief executive Alex Wynaendts, while Aegon UK's chief executive Otto Thoresen has also been given other group-wide responsibilities.

Meanwhile, Scottish Life posted a 4% rise in new business in the first half to £779m. Scottish Life International was also up 4% to £79m, but protection specialist Bright Grey saw a 12% drop to £80m, parent Royal London has reported. Group new business rose 6% to £1.06bn.