Aviva plc beat forecasts with a 5 percent rise in first-quarter sales, helped by growth in United States and Asia, but the British-based insurer gave one of the gloomiest outlooks yet for a United Kingdom market it says will shrink over the coming months, Reuters reported.

Aviva, which competes with Prudential plc for the top spot in U.K. insurance by market value, expects the U.K. life market to grow 5 percent at most in 2008, but only thanks to a recovery in the second half, as comparatives ease and investors unsettled by the global crunch eye products with guaranteed returns.

Over the first three months of the year, Aviva’s total life and pensions sales climbed to 8.17 billion pounds ($16.15 billion), beating analysts’ average forecast of 8.03 billion pounds.

Sales in Britain, which account for roughly a third of new business but a larger slice of profits, fell 3 percent in the quarter.

North American sales rose 24 percent, and Aviva said it remained optimistic on the outlook for U.S. growth, despite volatility in investment markets and lower interest rates. Aviva USA is based in Des Moines.

Asia, by far the smallest of Aviva’s markets, saw a 50 percent jump in sales to 373 million pounds, or about $789 million.