Pension firm Phoenix said it doubled its long-term cash generation in the first half of the year despite a “challenging market environment.”

It said new business long-term cash generation increased 106% to £885m, up from £430m in the first half of 2022.

Its Retirement Solutions business generated £665m, up from £282m while its capital-light fee-based businesses generated £220m, up from £148m.

The company said flows into its funds climbed 72% to £3.1bn, up from £1.8bn.

Phoenix chief executive Andy Briggs praised inorganic growth through the purchase of Sun Life of Canada UK.

It bought Sun Life in August 2022, completing the acquisition in April this year for £250m.

He said there could be more mergers and acquisitions ahead. Phoenix said: “We have the financial flexibility to fund transactions.”

Kunal Sood, managing director of defined benefit solutions and reinsurance at Standard Life, which is part of Phoenix Group, said the business wrote £3.2bn of bulk purchase annuity premiums in the six months.

He said: “The BPA market is seeing record levels of demand, due to higher interest rates narrowing the funding gap of many defined benefit pension schemes, and therefore making buy-ins and buy-outs more affordable for trustees.”

He predicted that 2023 would prove to be a record-breaking year, with the total BPA market expected to reach more than £40bn.

He said the outlook for the second half of the year looks positive, “with a strong pipeline of activity as the funding levels for many schemes allow them to position themselves for de-risking activity much earlier than anticipated.” 

Earlier this month, Phoenix launched an open market Standard Life individual annuity, available to new and existing customers.