Results, presentations and reports

Lorraine: Hi, Amanda.

Thank you very much for joining me here at Direct Line's Riverbank House office to talk about Aviva's half year financial results.

So we'll get to those in just a minute.

But before we do, I have to ask, how is the Direct Line integration going?

Amanda: Well, Lorraine, first of all, let me say thank you very much for having me here. It's brilliant to be here.

So how is it going?

Well, we were delighted that we were able to complete the acquisition on the 1st of July, which was actually just six months after we announced the recommended offer. So I think that was great news.

And in recognition of such an important milestone, what we were able to do is offer all of the Aviva colleagues and Direct Line colleagues £500 worth of free Aviva shares, which will be given in September.

In terms of the integration. I think it's going really, really well.

So Aviva is in control, we have a leadership team in place and customer service hasn’t missed a beat, which I'm sure you know better than anybody.

And the focus now, I think going forward, is really thinking about the integration process and ensuring that we deliver a better performance, but also the financial synergies that we've said that we would deliver. So really that's our focus now.

But a lot more on that in November when at our Q3 results we’ll talk in more detail about what we expect from the Direct Line deal.

Lorraine: Thanks, Amanda.

It's such an exciting time to be part of Aviva.

So we're at the halfway point of the financial year. How are we performing?

Amanda: These are really great set of results at the half year. Really strong progress across all of the metrics. We're making great strategic progress. And what's good is that there's lots more opportunities that are still to go after.

So operating profit is up strongly but also cash and capital generation are up.

But I'm really, really pleased about the progress that we're making with customers.

We now have 5.5 million customers with two or more Aviva products. And over the last 12 months, the Net Promoter Score has increased by seven points and it's now over 50.

So we are growing and delivering great customer service.

Lorraine: It sounds like a really very strong first half. Could you share some of the highlights from the markets?

Amanda: So our strategy; to be the go-to customer brand, is the right one for Aviva. And we're delivering a great set of results across the diversified business. So let me just take you through those.

In Insurance, Wealth and Retirement. First of all, in our Wealth business. We're extending our lead as the number one platform in Wealth. And we are still growing, which is great news.

In the Protection business we're continuing to grow margins following the acquisition of the AIG business last year.

In Health, the business is really growing strongly. And very importantly with a low 90s combined operating ratio.

And finally, in Retirement, we've written £2 billion worth of Bulk Purchase Annuity business at attractive margins, really well supported by the Aviva Investors real asset origination team.

Now, if we move on to the UK General Insurance business, really strong operating profit, but also really strong growth in the business. So an excellent performance from the team there.

And in Canada, operating profit is up and the business is also growing.

Lorraine: You said at the beginning you were really proud of what we've delivered for customers. Can you tell me a bit more about that?

Amanda: Yeah so I think making it click for our customers is really what we're all about. And that's what really gets us up in the morning.

So if we think about the progress on customers, with the Direct Line acquisition we now have globally 25 million customers and in the UK 21 million customers. So to put that into some sort of context, four out of ten people in the UK have a policy with Aviva, which is sort of, you know, touching where the major banks are.

So we're really pleased about that.

And I think what's important is we're serving more of their needs.

So we've spent the last number of years unlocking marketing permissions. And we now have over 9 million permissions in the UK. And what that has resulted in is that 42% of our sales are now to existing customers. So this is great news.

But what's equally as important as the experience that we've been able to deliver for those customers, we've invested very, very heavily in delivering better experience right across the board.

So we're now able to offer more personalised interactions via MyAviva. And that's led to an Online Experience Score of over 70%, which is great news.

And that gives us the opportunity to offer those sort of experiences to the Direct Line customers.

Lorraine: Thank you so much. It's been so lovely talking to you today.

Have you got any final words you'd like to share?

Amanda: So I guess what I really should say is thank you to all of the Aviva colleagues for the fantastic results that they've delivered today. We just simply would not be able to do it without them.

Their relentless focus on delivering great customer experiences is, I think, what makes these results so good and the Aviva experience so special.

And with our new Direct Line colleagues we’ll be able to achieve even more together.

Thank you.