Sales decline, but year's start pleases Aviva

Aviva PLC said Tuesday that new sales dropped in the first three months of 2010, dragged down by a pullback in North American annuity sales.

The London insurance and financial services company showed sales growth in Europe and the United Kingdom over the previous year, but sales in the United States were down 44 percent in the quarter compared with last year. This is "because of the specific actions we took last year to moderate the pace of our annuity sales and focus on capital efficiency," the company said...

Des Moines Register: Sales decline, but year's start pleases Aviva