Friends says sales beat market expectations

LONDON (Reuters) - Friends Provident FP.L, which rejected a takeover approach from U.S. buyout group J.C. Flowers this month, posted an 11 percent rise in first-quarter premiums on Tuesday, due to higher sales in its overseas units.

Friends said life and pensions new business totalled 247 million pounds, on an annual premium equivalent basis, up from 223.2 million last year.

Analysts polled by the life insurer had on average forecast total life and pensions sales at just over 206 million pounds, in a range of 194.3 million to 223 million pounds.

Friends said its UK business saw sales dip 2 percent, hit by the impact of the weaker mortgage market on its protection business and by weaker savings sales, but the fall was more than offset by a sales jump of 77 percent at FPI.

(Reporting by Clara Ferreira-Marques and Simon Challis; Editing by Erica Billingham)