Tidjane Thiam is easing himself into the top job at Prudential - and talking up the share-price prospects for the UK insurer.

The former Aviva man becomes chief executive in September, taking over from Mark Tucker. The pair did a double act today on the steady first-quarter results, where sales were down 5% to £697million.

Pru is focused on holding capital rather than chasing sales, a strategy that may offer little immediate reason to buy the shares.

Thiam disagrees. "I feel it's a good time to buy them. Our value is in our long-term potential which is not reflected in current prices. There is a consensus forming on that," he said. Lately, insurance results have often been greeted by a raspberry from the market - Legal & General lost 11% yesterday on concerns about its financial strength.

Today Pru moved down 11⁄4p to 4081⁄4p but Thiam, who is due to be the first black boss of a FTSE 100 company, said: "Prudential moves the market in the right direction, competitors move it in the wrong direction."

Fund management arm M&G took in £2.5 billion from savers seeking a safe home for thier money - up 356%. The Asian arm saw sales slip 11% to £333 million.

Tucker reckoned this was a good performance in "exceptional global economic conditions".