New business at Zurich life insurance, the company formerly known as Eagle Star Life, rose 1 per cent to €218.5 million last year, while the company’s market share rose to 12.6 per cent.
Zurich said the rise in new business came against a fall of 30 per cent in wider market. The company's market share has risen by over a third from 9.4 per cent in 2007.
Its performance in pension sales, up 11 per cent to €465.8 million, outperformed a market average decline of 22 per cent, according to data from Life Strategies.
New business in annual pension premiums rose 20 per cent year-on-year to €106.1 million, while single premium pensions business grew by 11 per cent to €465.8 million, compared to a market decline of 22 per cent.
Sales of personal retirement savings accounts (PRSA) rose 2 per cent. This brings Zurich's market share in this category to 28 per cent.
However, new business margins after tax fell from 22.2 per cent to 19.6 per cent. Zurich Life Ireland's chief executive Michael Brennan said he was pleased by the growth in market share.
The Zurich group today said fourth-quarter profit fell 87 per cent following writedowns and losses on investments.
Net income declined to $205 million from $1.53 billion a year earlier and the company plans to cut the gross dividend to 11 Swiss francs per share from 15 francs paid for 2007.
Zurich said it's doubling the target for cost cuts this year to $400 million after profit was hurt by $1.1 billion in markdowns on stocks, bonds and hedge funds last quarter.
"Zurich's capital position is very solid and the dividend payout should signal some confidence," said James Shuck, an analyst at Jefferies in London with a "buy" rating on the stock.
The "shares are weak today because of the fallout across the sector." Zurich Financial dropped as much as 6.5 percent and was down 5.7 per cent at 202.70 francs by 9.28am.
Additional reporting Bloomberg
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