Hibernian Aviva first quarter sales down 43%

SALES fell by 43% at insurance company Hibernian Aviva during the first three months of the year, compared with the same period last year.

First quarter figures published yesterday by British insurance group, Aviva — which owns the Hibernian brand here — showed that the year-on-year sales decline at the Irish business was in line with the sharp decline in the overall Irish life and pensions market and “reflects reduced demand across both retail and bancassurance channels with consumers being deterred by volatile equity markets, the slowdown in economic growth and property market uncertainty”.

Hibernian Aviva chief Stuart Purdy said yesterday that the company’s market share in both the pensions and health insurance areas — since buying a majority stake in Vivas Health last year, Hibernian’s share of the health insurance market has grown from 5% to 9% — are continuing to rise. The health insurance arm of the company now has approximately 200,000 customers in Ireland.