Aviva Plc, the second largest insurer in UK, announced that its life and pensions new business sales fell by 4.6% in the first quarter of the fiscal ended March 31, 2010. The insurer said that the sales declined as North America region performed very poorly in the first quarter.

However, the sales in the first quarter were reported better than the expectations of the market analysts. Aviva also said that it expects better results for the full year. Aviva said that its life and pensions sales were reported of £9.13 billion, decreasing by 4.6% while it was reported of £9.57 billion in the same quarter last year.

The first quarter sales beat the market expectations as the analysts were expecting sales of £8.49 billion for the period. The sales were reported up by 15% while comparing to the previous quarter ended December 2009. The insurer said that the sales in UK were reported almost flat in the first quarter of the fiscal compared to the previous corresponding period. But while we compare the sales to the December 2009 quarter, it was reported up by around
14%. Aviva also said that sales from United States were reported down by around 48% in the first quarter.