We keep hearing about the woes the current malaise in the euro is causing for euro-zone economies, what with everyone but exporters losing out in currency conversion.

How fortunate then to be a shareholder in Norwich Union. The British based former mutual, which opted for public status a couple of years ago, created a host of new Irish shareholders.

While the performance of the group may not mirror the meteoric rise of the Irish Permanent, neither has it followed the downward spiral of First Active.

Now, as an added bonus, the shareholders are to benefit from a 22 per cent rise in divided while their fellow investors in Britain settle for an increase of just 9 per cent. The difference, it emerges, is down to the strength of sterling relative to the pound, caught in the vice of the euro zone currency slump.

Still the company won't mind. Profits on its Irish life and pensions business have trebled in the two years since flotation.