Eagle Star has announced a 19 per cent increase in its new pensions business last year to £23.95 million (#30.4 million), a performance the company says puts it in second place in this segment of the market behind Irish Life.

"Eagle Star's key strategic objective is to become the leading life company in the pensions market and, with all our major competitors having published results, it is clear that we have moved into second place in 1998," managing director, Mr Michael Brennan, said. The company said its success in the pensions market was based on its superior investment performance.

Overall, Eagle Star's life and pensions business grew by 25 per cent as the annual premium equivalent (APE) rose to £33.24 million from £26.63 million. APE combines the value of new annual premium income plus one tenth of single premium income and is used in the industry to measure company performance.

Eagle Star said new single premium or one-off business topped the £100 million mark for the first time, rising by 31 per cent, while annual premium business was up by 21.5 per cent.

The life assurance company, which is now part of the Zurich financial services group, said its life business also performed strongly, with annual premium equivalent rising by 44 per cent to £9.29 million.