Annual Premium Equivalent (APE) at life assurance firm Friends First grew by 42 per cent from £46.2 million to £65.7 million (€83.4 million) last year, the company said yesterday. It said this was well ahead of the estimated industry average growth rate of 26 per cent in 1999.

The company said that single premium income increased by over 56 per cent to £407 million. Regular premium business increased by over 24 per cent to £25 million. The APE measure counts all the regular premium business and a proportion of the single premium income.

Stating that the company increased its market share to 10 per cent last year, its managing director Mr Aidan Hegarty said its tied agency agreement with First Active had lived up to expectations delivering "good volumes" of new business in the second half of the year.

Mr Hegarty added that demand for its "alternative retirement options" had been strong since the company introduced its ARF/AMRF products following legislation introduced in the 1999 Finance Act.

Friends First employs more than 660 people at its offices in Dublin, Galway, Cork, Limerick and Waterford. With total assets of more than £2.1 billion, the company is part of the Eureko alliance of European insurance groups.