Prudential see sales slide

Prudential Chief Executice Jonathan Bloomer has denied that the company is selling its 79% stake in online banking firm Egg to improve solvency requirements under new guidelines.

Earlier, Britain's second-largest insurer Prudential reported a 16% fall in full-year new sales figures and remained cautious about the UK market for the first half of 2004.

However, Bloomer said he was optimistic about the strong growth potential of its Asian and US businesses in 2004.

New business sales for insurance products in 2003 fell to £1.6bn (€2.32bn) from £1.9bn (€2.75bn ) on an annual premium equivalent basis, the measuremant used to strip out volatility in the market.

That fall was mainly due to the underperformance of the with-profits market in Britain and poor institutional sales in the US.

The bulk of Prudential's overall revenue is generated outside Britain.