Life assurance and finance group Friends First, which yesterday delivered a 41 per cent increase in pretax profits, is seeking an acquisition or partnership in order to help grow the business.

Chief executive Adrian Hegarty said he was very pleased with the group's performance last year and the outlook for this year, but that in order to maintain this level of growth it now needs to expand.

"We want to acquire, we want to do something that will involve consolidation," he said yesterday at a presentation of the company's results in Dublin. "The time is right for consolidation in the industry."

Mr Hegarty said Friends First has the full support of its parent company Eureko for expansion in the Irish market and would ideally like to do some sort of deal within the next year to 18 months.

Anyone outside the top three players would be possible targets, he said, though ruled out any combination with Rabobank. The Dutch group recently upped its stake in Eureko from 5 per cent to 37 per cent.

Eureko "is very keen to participate in the third phase of consolidation in the Irish market and we stand ready if the opportunity presents itself," said Mr Hegarty, adding that the money is available for a deal.

Netherlands-based Eureko also released its full-year results yesterday, reporting a 74 per cent increase in group profit in 2005 to €826 million. Friends First is the third-largest contributor to this figure.

Mr Hegarty said Friends First's three business divisions were "firing on all cylinders" and that overall the group expects to report better numbers in 2006 than for 2005.

Pretax profit for 2005 was €29.3 million, helped by a particularly strong performance at the group's life assurance business.

The division also saw its pretax profit rise by 41 per cent to €18 million.

New business margins within the division rose to 19.7 per cent, from 15.6 per cent in the prior year.

The finance division, which focuses largely on vehicle financing, saw its profits rise by 29 per cent to €5.3 million.