Discovery has released its interim results for the six months ending December 2012, showing £20m of pre-tax operating profit earned by its UK businesses.
The majority shareholder of PruProtect and PruHealth announced a pre-tax operating profit of £21.7m for the 6 months ending December 2012.
It added that the combined UK business now serves close to 700,000 customers, with a premium base approaching £0.5bn.
Commenting on the results, Neville Koopowitz CEO of PruHealth said: "We are delighted that our investment in service and product innovation here in the UK has resulted in strong performances from both our Health and Protection businesses.
"Annualised premium income from new business stood at £47m for the second half of the year, an increase of 43% over the same 6 month period in the previous financial year."
Discovery also noted ABI figures show PruProtect has over 10% new business market share in the intermediated Protection market, making it the 4th-largest provider in the channel.
Herschel Mayers, CEO of PruProtect said:
"Product and service innovations, including cover for lifestage and lifestyle treatment such as bariatric surgery and certain cosmetic procedures; non-smoker premium cash-back; and a commitment to cover consultant fees in full have helped PruHealth to continue growing despite challenging market conditions.
"In March of this year the migration of the PruHealth customer service operation to the UK will be complete. There is a clear commitment within the business to getting closer to customers in order to deliver against the highest benchmarks.
"With more and more members choosing to participate in Vitality, lapse rates have fallen to lower than expected levels."
