Summary review
- 01 Highlights
- 02 Chairman's statement
- 03 Group chief executive's review
- 04 Long-term savings
- 05 Fund management
- 06 General insurance
- 07 Board of directors
- 08 Summary financial statements
- 09 Shareholder services
- 10 Shareholder information
- 11 Useful contact details
Total investment sales
New external mandates secured by Morley Fund Management
Building on our areas of expertise
Expanding our property funds into Europe. Morley Fund Management plans to roll out its successful UK property fund management business into continental Europe, with a focus on countries in Southern and Central Europe.
Morley Fund Management was the winner of Property Week’s 2004 property fund manager of the year award.
Fund management
Business strategy
Aviva’s in-house fund management businesses work on behalf of shareholders, policyholders and institutional clients, with the aim of generating superior investment performance. Our aim is to lead in our chosen markets through our research and investment expertise.
Market position
We are the second-largest UK-based fund manager, among the top five in Ireland, a leading fund manager in the Netherlands, and are one of Australia’s largest investment platform providers through Navigator. We also have a significant fund management business in France.
Performance
Total retail investment sales improved 44% to £1,629 million (2003: £1,141 million), with good performances in the UK, Luxembourg and Australia.
Worldwide assets under management increased to £273 billion (2003: £240 billion), reflecting the benefit of new business flows and improved investment markets. Operating profit including associates rose to £43 million (2003: £10 million), reflecting higher fee income and lower operating costs.
Morley Fund Management
Morley’s focus is on our core asset classes of pan-European equities, fixed income, property, and through strategic asset allocation. We also specialise in socially responsible investment, private equity, alternative investments and global and emerging market equities. We recognise our responsibilities as a major institutional investor and take an active interest in the companies in which we invest.
During 2004, we made significant progress in reshaping our business through a pioneering investment administration service with JPMorgan. A number of new funds were launched, including property partnership vehicles, a pan-European equity fund and a new Aviva Multimanager fund of funds that can be sold across Europe.
Morley’s operating profit of £12 million (2003: £3 million) for its institutional and retail UK-based businesses was an encouraging result. Within the Aviva group result were additional profits of £12 million (2003: £6 million) from other Morley businesses. We secured £4.3 billion of new funded external mandates (2003: £4.5 million). Assets under management increased to £134 billion (2003: £121 billion).
France
Aviva Gestion d’Actifs maintained its reputation for strong investment performance, with over 65% of our funds in the top quartile for returns over three years and another collection of prestigious awards from the financial press.
We have £45 billion of assets under management (2003: £36 billion). Operating profit was £17 million (2003: £13 million).
Netherlands and Belgium
The inflow of new funds to Delta Lloyd grew strongly, with assets under management up to £36 billion (2003: £34 billion).
Navigator
Navigator is one of Australia’s largest investment portfolio administration services, with £4 billion of combined funds under administration. New sales increased to £648 million (2003: £617 million). Sales through our Navigator business in Singapore were £13 million (2003: £8 million).
Outlook
We saw some improvement and stabilisation in world markets during 2004, leading to a gradual return of investor confidence. We will build on the progress made in the past 12 months, with a focus on selected markets where our investment and distribution expertise means we can compete against the best.
