IRISH Progressive grew single premium sales by 120 per cent in 1996 and saw annual premium sales rise by 32 per cent, the life assurance wing of the Irish Permanent group said yesterday.

"The individual pensions sector was some 27 per cent ahead of 1995 in terms of new annual premiums, the protection market posting a growth in new annual premiums of 14 per cent, and the savings market showing growth of 250 per cent," the company said.

This meant new single premium income jumped to £20.6 million from £9.4 million and annual premium income rose to £11.4 million from £8.7 million, the company said.

"In our second full year as part of the Irish Permanent group, the figures were very positive, well ahead of overall market growth in new annual premiums," said Irish Progressive's managing director Mr Frank McHugh.

He said new products introduced during the year, including progressive pensions, PIPs and PEPs, had proved successful in the competitive independent broker market.

The company's product and technical services director, Mr Declan Lawlor, said Irish Progressive's future strategy would be to concentrate on individual pension packages. Recent surveys had shown that pension levels were lowest - among the self employed and those working for small companies, he said, and the company would be targeting these customers.

He added that the company saw life assurance coverage as low in Ireland and would be trying to convince the public of this. "It is a matter of education - £100,000 sounds like a lot of money, and it is a lot if you win it in the lottery and nothing else changes. But when it's invested, it gives an annual return these days of about £6,000, and that's not enough to keep a widow and two or three children.