Scottish Friendly sales are boosted by partnerships

Sales at Scottish Friendly soared by almost half last year as it benefited from a series of third-party distribution deals.

The Glasgow-based group, Scotland's largest indigenous mutual following the 2009 takeover of Dunfermline Building Society, posted a 48 per cent increase in like-for-like sales to 12.9 million in 2010, fuelled by a 144 per cent jump in single premium sales of its savings products.

There was also a small rise in regular premium business as partnerships with firms including Royal London, the Phoenix Group and Nucleus Financial boosted its product distribution.

Neil Lovatt, sales and marketing director at Scottish Friendly, said: "We are especially pleased this impressive sales growth has been achieved at the same time as we have substantially reduced our cost of acquiring new business.

"More new business at more cost-effective rates, leads to even more value for our members," he said.