Irish Life continues to grow business in second quarter

Irish Life continued to grow its business in the second quarter of the year, contributing €45 million to its parent company Great-West Lifeco's profits.

That compares with €38 million in the same quarter a year earlier.

The investment and pension company said its retail Multi-Asset Portfolios investment product exceeded €1 billion in assets in its first year.

The company also said the Irish Infrastructure Fund, which was established by Irish Life Investment Managers, has also acquired the contract to operate Dublin’s convention centre for the next 20 years.

Great-West Lifeco reported total sales of of $24.5 billion in the second quarter of the year, up 52 per cent from the same period a year earlier. Its European sales rose 21 per cent on strong growth in Ireland and Germany, reaching $3.4 billion for the period.

Net earnings in its Europe business that were attributable to common shareholders in the second quarter were $289 million. The figure was up 17 per cent year on year, with 2014 showing $246 million for the same period.

Great-West said it expects to beat its targets for the acquisition of Irish Life, predicting it will realise €48 million in annualised synergies as a result, rather than the €40 million target it initially predicted.

Irish Life was bought by Great-West Lifeco in 2013, and Irish Life Group chief executive Bill Kyle said the integration with Lifeco was now complete, at an investment of €56.5 million.

“Despite the complex nature of the integration process we managed to exceed all targets and achieve our highest customer service scores during the period,” he said. “To have achieved significant business growth during this period is even more impressive.”