Preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2006
Richard Harvey, group chief executive, commented:
“This is high quality growth from Aviva and demonstrates the benefit of our balanced portfolio of businesses, in terms of product, distribution and geography.
“In the UK, our clear strategy and increased consumer confidence has delivered an excellent result and an increased market share. Our European portfolio of life businesses is also growing ahead of the market overall, with an increasing contribution from Central and Eastern Europe. In Asia, we’ve made good headway in the biggest markets of India and China and will continue to broaden our reach, looking at new markets and distribution opportunities.
“We’re delighted with our acquisition of AmerUs in the US. It is a key strategic development for us, bringing a great growth platform in the biggest long-term savings market in the world. The integration is on track with an excellent growth outlook for 2007 and beyond.
“In general insurance, we’ve out-performed our combined operating ratio target again. The RAC has been a great acquisition, delivering good profits and bringing new insurance customers.
“Looking to the future, we will continue with aggressive growth of our business across product lines, distribution and geographies, subject to our strict profitability targets. We will supplement strong organic growth with bolt-on value-adding acquisitions funded from internally generated capital.”
- Worldwide EEV operating profit up 12% to £3,245m; IFRS operating profit up 46% to £3,110m
- Continued profitable growth in long-term savings with sales up 21% to £30,762m and stable margins at 3.5% (H1 2006: 3.5%); life EEV operating profit up 12% to £2,033m
- Strong general insurance result with combined operating ratio of 94% ahead of ‘meet or beat’ commitment of 98%; general insurance and health operating profit up 8% to £1,680m
- Balance sheet strength with 1.8 times excess IGD solvency cover
- Total dividend increased by 10% to 30.0 pence per share
Enquiries:
| Richard Harvey | Group chief executive | +44 (0)20 7662 2286 |
| Andrew Moss | Group finance director | +44 (0)20 7662 2679 |
Analysts: | ||
| Charles Barrows | Investor relations director | +44 (0)20 7662 8115 |
| Jessie Burrows | Head of investor relations | +44 (0)20 7662 2111 |
Media: | ||
| Hayley Stimpson | Director of external affairs | +44 (0)20 7662 7544 |
| Sue Winston | Head of group media relations | +44 (0)20 7662 8221 |
| Rob Bailhache | Financial Dynamics | +44 (0)20 7269 7200 |