According to a number of media reports it is expected that the UK's largest insurer, Aviva, will shortly reveal an impressive 25% growth in profits for the six months to June 2006.
Despite suffering the disappointing blow of having its audacious bid for main rival Prudential rebuffed during the period, it is believed that UK insurance leader Aviva will state in the coming days that strong life performance and general good new business sales in the UK has boosted its profits by a quarter.
Speculation suggests that the insurer will report profits of GBP1.7 billion in H1, an increase over the GBP1.3 billion delivered in the first half of 2005.
Meanwhile, The Scotsman newspaper reports analysts predicting that Aviva will show that its life assurance sales will have improved by 20%, while new business profits have increased by over 25%.