LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - Life insurer Friends Provident(FP.l: Quote, Profile , Research) met forecasts on Friday with a 12 percent rise infirst-quarter sales but warned headwinds in the protectioninsurance market, one of its key businesses, were gettingstronger.

Britain's seventh-biggest listed life insurer said life andpensions new business totalled 1.5 billion pounds ($3 billion),with a strong performance in the UK offset by a decline ininternational new business.

The median estimate for first quarter-sales, according to apoll by the company, was 1.46 billion pounds. Estimates rangedfrom 1.37 billion to 1.68 billion pounds.

The firm is "particularly focused on growing our share ofthe protection market" as it work towards its target of makingUK new business profits of 180 million to 200 million pounds in2008, Ben Gunn, the chief executive of its UK unit, toldreporters.

But difficult market conditions, worsened by recent interestrate increases that are likely to hit the number of newmortgages sold -- on which the market for protection insurancedepends -- are likely to make that target harder to achieve,Gunn said. Continued...

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