Sales figures from Hibernian Life show an annual premium equivalent for 1999 of £44.7 million. The latest figures are not directly comparable with the previous year because they include the results of CGU Life, which was merged with Hibernian last year.

Annual premium equivalent is an industry measure of performance and is made up of annual premium income plus 10 per cent of single premium, or lump sum, income.

When the figures are separated, they show that Hibernian recorded a 49 per cent rise in single premium business with sales of £55 million, while annual premium income was 25 per cent ahead at £21 million.

CGU Life recorded a 245 per cent jump in single premium business with life sales of £165 million in 1999. It recorded annual premium sales of just £1 million which compared with no annual premium business in the previous year.

Mr Vincent Nolan, who has been appointed general manager of the merged Hibernian/GCU operation, which will trade under the Hibernian brand name, said the results reflected very strong growth in single premium business last year. Pension business accounted for £22 million of Hibernian's £55 million single premium income.

Describing the merger with CGU as "a marriage made in heaven", he said there were significant synergies between the two operations, with Hibernian's strength in the unit-linked pensions business and CGU's strength in the with-profit single premium market. "We now have a complete product offering for the lump-sum investment market covering the range from guaranteed, for cautious investors, to highly leveraged investment products for the risk-taking investor," he said.

Forecasting significant growth opportunities for the combined operation this year, he said continuing low returns on deposit accounts and the implications of changes in the rules on annuities for the self-employed and proprietary directors will continue to drive both the saving and pensions markets.