The company, which employs 850 people at its operations in Sussex and is one of Hove's biggest employers, reported a 22 per cent jump in global sales of new life insurance and pensions policies for the first nine months of the year.

Analysts said the figures showed L&G had no urgent need to combine with a bigger rival.

NatWest offered £10.75 billion for the insurer but dropped its offer to focus on defending itself against the Bank of Scotland's hostile takeover approach.

The collapse of the tie-up left analysts looking for other potential bidders for L&G.

But the strong third quarter and nine-month figures today indicated the group would only sell for a price which would put off most buyers.

Broker Dresdner Kleinwort Benson said: "After the disappointment of the lapsed offer for the group, third-quarter numbers will provide reassurance that momentum within the business remains strong."

The sales surge was thanks in part to L&G's group pensions, which are sold with similar low charges to the Government's planned stakeholder products.

Analysts have praised L&G for gearing up its computer systems to cope with stakeholder products as soon as they are brought in during 2001.

Sales of individual pensions slowed following L&G's April decision to trim commission payments for intermediaries. The company is trying to bring down the costs of personal pensions to stakeholder levels.

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