The group said its “record Q1” performance, from intermediary and direct sales, was due to the positioning and pricing of its products through “leading technology”.
But L&G reported a 40% drop in its individual annuity sales in Q1 from £406m in 2013 to £244m in the first quarter of this year.
In a statement released with its results L&G said that following George Osborne’s March Budget announcement that pension holders no longer had to purchase an annuity it suffered £15m worth of annuity cancellations.
Following the reforms L&G announced it expected to see revenues from annuity products fall by three quarters by the end of 2015.
Outside of product sales the group has been investing in house building and supporting initiatives to improve conditions for the provision of new homes.
Group chief executive Nigel Wilson said in quarter one the group invested around £100m a week in UK infrastructure and housing.
It completed £1bn of transactions including property firm Cala’s acquisition of Banner Homes and a £252m investment in affordable housing.
And last week L&G launched its ten step plan to tackle the UK’s housing crisis.
Its targets included encouraging institutional investment in the private rental sector, targeting the equity release and retirement markets and calling for the creation of smaller homes to cater for shrinking families.
To facilitate the provision of new build mortgages and cash in on the uptick in demand for new build properties driven by the government’s Help to Buy equity loan scheme L&G launched a new build lender panel last month.
The panel of ten lenders includes Virgin Money, Precise and NatWest.
In L&G’s premliminary annual results released in March L&G reported a 47% rise in mortgage completions from £19bn in 2012 to £28bn in 2013 assuring its position as the UK’s biggest mortgage distributor based on completions.
