U.K. insurer and financial services firm Standard Life PLC (SL.LN) Wednesday posted a 44% jump in first-half operating profit, and said it is seeing strong demand for its financial products.

Operating profit for the six months ended June 30 was GBP262 million, compared with GBP182 million a year earlier. Results were 32% higher than GBP198 million expected by analysts. Net profit also increased to GBP199 million, an increase of 9%

The company said it expects customer demand for its financial products to continue, which will drive future growth. Chief Executive David Nish said 2011 was a transformational year, with the company in the execution stage of a three-year strategy aimed at growing the company and diversifying its revenue.

The company also announced an interim dividend of 4.6 pence a share, up 5.7% from 4.35 pence a year earlier.

New business sales rose 16% to GBP11.2 billion, marginally lower than the GBP11.3 billion average forecast from analysts.

Investors largely expected higher results following the launch of a number of new business services including Lifelens, its employee pensions, savings and benefits portal, which was launched in the first quarter. The company has also made improvements to its Adviserzone support platform for financial advisers over the past six months.

-By Mario Christodoulou, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9479; mario.christodoulou@dowjones.com

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