American Equity Investment Life Holding Co. is benefiting significantly from the recent withdrawal of a competitor’s product from the market. The West Des Moines-based fixed index annuities company’s second-quarter earnings soared to $82.8 million, up from a year-ago net income of $36.7 million.

Annuity sales were up 73 percent from the prior-year second quarter to $1.8 billion, compared to second quarter 2014 annuity sales of $1.04 billion.

The competitive landscape improved significantly for American Equity with the withdrawal of a competitor’s guaranteed income product in early March, said American Equity President and CEO John Matovina.

“Because that product offered one of the highest levels of guaranteed income among fixed index annuities, it had substantial market share ranking it in the top three best-sellers in each of the last three years,” he said in a prepared statement. “The withdrawal of this product enabled us to capture market share from many of the annuity producers looking for competitive guaranteed income solutions that formerly sold the competitor’s product.”

Additionally, Matovina said, another substantial competitor “scaled back its sales appetite,” which enabled American Equity to increase its sales.

American Equity’s Non-GAAP operating earnings for the second quarter, which is how the company consistently benchmarks its results, increased 32 percent to $50.9 million, or 64 cents per diluted common share, compared to second-quarter 2014 non-GAAP operating income of $38.5 million, or 48 cents per share.

Matoviina said he’s optimistic the company will have a record year for sales, though he expects the first-half surge to “settle down somewhat.”