The Board of Aviva plc (formerly CGNU plc) announces that the company has formally changed its name to Aviva plc with effect from today. This follows approval from shareholders at the 2002 Annual General Meeting.
The Board of Aviva plc (formerly CGNU plc) announces that the company has formally changed its name to Aviva plc with effect from today. This follows approval from shareholders at the 2002 Annual General Meeting.
The London Stock Exchange mnemonic for the company will change from “CGNU” to “AV.” with effect from 2 July 2002. The stock code for the company’s secondary listings on the Dublin and Paris exchanges will remain the same (ie GU8 and 5662 respectively).
Currently the company has more than 50 trading names worldwide, with multiple brands in some countries, such as France. Consolidating under one brand will increase awareness of the group around the world and generate considerable marketing synergies.
For commercial reasons five of the strongest brands will not change. These are Norwich Union (UK), Delta Lloyd (Netherlands), Commercial Union (Poland), Hibernian (Ireland) and NZI (New Zealand). The words ‘an Aviva company’ will generally be added to marketing materials to demonstrate their membership of the Aviva group.
Shareholdings are unaffected by the name change and existing share certificates should be retained, as they will remain valid for all purposes. Any new share certificates issued after 1 July 2002 will bear the company’s new name.
Richard Harvey, Group Chief Executive, commented: “Bringing our businesses together under the Aviva brand is sound commercial logic and brings many benefits. It will create greater value from our marketing spend, particularly in advertising and sponsorship. This will heighten awareness of Aviva around the world and make it easier for the group to attract new customers and enter new markets. Our company is the result of a large number of transactions over many years and bringing it together under one brand will help create a stronger sense of belonging for our 64,000 employees around the world.”
Enquiries:
Analysts/Investors:
James Matthews, Head of Investor Relations
+44 (0)20 7662 2137
Press contacts:
Hayley Stimpson, Director of External Affairs
+44 (0)20 7662 7544
Alex Child-Villiers, Financial Dynamics
+44 (0)20 7269 7107
Notes to editors:
- Aviva is the UK’s largest insurance group, one of the top- five life insurers in Europe and has substantial positions in other markets around the world. It is the world’s seventh- largest insurer based on worldwide gross written premiums.
- Aviva’s principal business activities are long-term savings, fund management and general insurance, with worldwide premium income and retail investment sales from ongoing business of more than Ł28 billion, and over Ł200 billion of assets under management at 31 December 2001.