Aviva plc Q3 2022 Trading Update

Continued positive momentum in Q3 across our diversified business model

Strong capital and liquidity positions despite market volatility

Dividend guidance and outlook for capital returns unchanged

Wealth UK&I Life General Insurance General Insurance Solvency II
£7.0bn £466m £7.2bn 94.3% 223%
Net flows, 6%1 of opening AuM VNB +46% GWP +10% COR +1.9pp Shareholder cover ratio
9M21: £7.3bn 9M21: £319m 9M21: £6.5bn 9M21: 92.4% HY22: 234%

Amanda Blanc, Group Chief Executive Officer, said: 

“Trading is positive and our performance is consistently strong. We have had a good nine months due to our market leading positions, our customer focus and the clear benefits of Aviva’s diversified business across insurance, wealth and retirement. 

“Our customers have continued to save for their future and protect what is valuable to them. Flows in our Wealth business were encouraging and general insurance volumes continue to grow, especially in commercial lines. Profitability also remains robust across both life and general insurance. 

“Aviva’s capital and liquidity position is strong and our high quality asset portfolio has performed well during the recent period of extreme market volatility.

“We remain confident in the outlook for Aviva. We are on track to deliver our financial targets and trading momentum is building. Our dividend guidance remains unchanged and, as previously announced, we anticipate commencing additional returns of capital to shareholders with our 2022 full year results.”

Continued strong trading momentum driven by our diversified business model

  • UK&I Life value of new business (VNB) £466m, up 46%, and VNB margin of 1.9% (9M21: 1.3%), driven by higher VNB in Annuities & Equity Release of £143m (9M21: £16m).
  • Continued good sales2 growth of 3% in Wealth and 4% in Protection & Health were offset by lower Bulk Purchase Annuity (BPA) volumes as we remain selective and disciplined on price. Overall UK&I Life sales2 of £24.9bn were down 1%.
  • Strong net flows in Workplace of £4.1bn, up 11%. Overall Wealth net flows were a resilient 6%1 of opening AuM at £7.0bn, but down 4% versus 9M21 due to the challenging environment for investment activity on our Platform business.
  • Acquisition of Succession Wealth completed in August. Succession Wealth advisers can now access Aviva's platform and are already benefiting from its competitive offering and outstanding service. As a result, they can also access Aviva's multi-asset funds.
  • General Insurance gross written premiums (GWP) up 10% (7% at constant currency) to £7.2bn. UK GWP up 7% to £3.9bn and Canada GWP up 8% at constant currency to £3.0bn.
  • GI combined operating ratio (COR) remains strong at 94.3% (9M21: 92.4%) and reflects more normal claims frequency versus the same period last year. We continue to maintain a disciplined response to claims inflation.

Continued focus on cost efficiency

  • Baseline controllable costs3 down 2% year-on-year to £2bn, reflecting continued focus on efficiency as we continue to make further operational savings through cost initiatives and ongoing simplification of the business.
  • On track to deliver savings target of £750m (gross of inflation) by end of 2024 relative to our 2018 baseline.

Capital position remains well above top-end of our target range

  • Estimated Solvency II shareholder cover ratio of 223% (HY22: 234%) was down 11pp during Q3, mainly driven by operating capital generation and net positive market movements more than offset by the interim dividend, £500m redemption of Restricted Tier 1 debt, and the completion of the Succession Wealth acquisition.
  • Estimated Solvency II cover ratio pro forma of 215% (HY22: 213%) after planned £500m further debt reduction and pension scheme payment, is 35 points above the top-end of our target range.
  • Surplus capital above a 180% cover ratio increased during Q3 from £2.3bn to £2.5bn on a pro forma basis.
  • Following the 'mini-budget' at the end of Q3, the UK experienced very high levels of market volatility. The Group’s capital and liquidity demonstrated very strong resilience during this period. 
  • The Group's Solvency II position remains very strong, and we estimate only a minimal impact to the cover ratio from the yield falls in October. 
  • The impact of the extreme market volatility in Q3 on our Solvency II cover ratio was not as positive as implied by our published sensitivities. This is because the sensitivities are one dimensional in nature (e.g. they assume parallel yield curve shifts, and they apply equally across all geographies) and could not fully capture the complex factors and exceptionally rapid movements in this period. 
  • Solvency II debt leverage ratio of 31% at Q322 (HY22: 30%), 29% pro forma for planned further debt reduction and pension scheme payment.
  • In line with our Interim Results announcement in August, we anticipate commencing a new share buyback programme with our 2022 full year results, subject to market conditions and regulatory approval.
  • Assuming a new buyback is agreed, its size will be determined by the Board at year end and will take account of the financial position at that time, as well as both the drivers of the capital surplus (including the impact of market movements) and our preference to return surplus capital regularly and sustainably.

Strong centre liquidity

  • Centre liquidity (Oct 22) remains strong at £1.9bn (Jul 22: £2.7bn), with the reduction since July driven mainly by the interim dividend payment, £500m redemption of Restricted Tier 1 debt and completion of the Succession Wealth acquisition, partly offset by cash remittances to the centre during the period.
  • In keeping with similar businesses in the sector, the Group uses a variety of derivative financial instruments. Objectives include managing exposure to market, foreign exchange, and/or interest rate risk, and also the matching of cashflows in its annuity business. 
  • Following the sharp and rapid rise in interest rates at the end of Q3 the value of these instruments moved significantly. This required sizeable collateral flows which we were able to routinely meet through our standard daily liquidity management procedures. Aviva has the ability to meet collateral calls through a variety of different types of assets. 
  • We regularly monitor and stress our capital and liquidity requirements to a 1 in 200 stress level and hold considerable buffers over these prudent requirements.
  • The Group does not have an offering in the Liability Driven Investment (LDI) market, other than for the Aviva staff pension schemes, and therefore has no external exposures in this regard.

Shareholder asset portfolio remains well positioned

  • Aviva’s high quality shareholder asset portfolio of £75bn at Q322 continues to perform well and is defensively positioned.
  • Shareholder asset exposure to equities, emerging market sovereigns, and European peripherals is low.
  • Corporate bonds represent £19.5bn or 26% of the portfolio. Of this 86% is externally rated investment grade and 14% internally rated. Aviva has a long history in private debt, with a robust internal rating model, and these internally rated assets are secured loans with an average rating of ‘single A’ quality.
  • The corporate bond portfolio continues to perform well with <£150m downgraded to a lower letter during the first nine months of 2022, and no corporate bond downgrades below investment grade.
  • Our commercial mortgage portfolio of £5.9bn comprises largely long-duration fixed rate contracts with low average loan-to-value (LTV) ratios of approximately 45%.
  • Our securitised mortgage loans and equity release portfolio of £9.0bn is mostly internally securitised with low average LTVs of approximately 25%.

Outlook

  • Given the challenging economic backdrop and market volatility, our strong performance over the first nine months together with our diversified product set further reinforces our confidence in the prospects, financial targets and outlook for the Group.
  • Our capital and liquidity positions have been tested by recent market conditions and have been shown to be robust and resilient. We continue to monitor exposures carefully but we believe our capital strength will remain a competitive advantage.
  • Our dividend guidance4 of c.£870m (c.31.0p) for 2022 and c.£915m (c.32.5p) for 2023, together with our intention to return further capital to shareholders in 2023 are unchanged.
  • Across our Workplace, Health and Group Protection businesses we expect a continuation of the strong Q3 YTD trends into the fourth quarter. 
  • We will maintain a disciplined approach in a competitive market for Bulk Purchase Annuities. The longer term outlook for BPAs remains very positive, and higher interest rates mean that we now expect more schemes to de-risk over the coming years, albeit with reduced transfer values of scheme liabilities. We remain committed to our target of £15-20bn of BPA volumes over 2022-24.
  • In General Insurance we expect the rating environment to remain favourable in commercial lines, while in personal lines we will continue to price appropriately for claims inflation. We expect a full year COR that is broadly consistent with Q3 YTD performance, subject to normal weather conditions in Q4.

Download our third quarter 2022 trading update announcement PDF (360 KB)

Download our third quarter 2022 trading update presentation PDF (3.3 MB)

Listen to a recording of our third quarter 2022 trading update for investors and analysts

Watch our Group CEO, Amanda Blanc’s third quarter 2022 trading update video

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Transcript 

Kofi Eschoe-Wilson

Hi, Amanda. Good morning. How are you doing today?

Amanda Blanc

I am good, Kofi. How are you?

Kofi Eschoe-Wilson

Yes, I'm good. Aside from the train discourse, I'm here. It's a bright morning so I'm raring to go.

Amanda Blanc

Well it's really fantastic to see you here. Normally I see you on a screen somewhere, so it's fantastic that you're in the office.

Kofi Eschoe-Wilson

Thank you for talking to me today about our third quarter trading. Have we made any good progress since our half year results?

Amanda Blanc

We have made good progress. Despite the fact that we've seen quite a lot of political and economic volatility, particularly here in the UK. Actually Aviva this morning has confirmed some brilliant results I think. What you see from this morning's results is a real benefit of our diversified business model.

So, we've got strong growth in a number of areas. And we're also reconfirming our dividend

and capital returns plans that we laid out in March and August. So all in all another strong

quarter for Aviva.

Kofi Eschoe-Wilson

Thank you, Amanda. At half year we talked a lot about our strategic priorities, how are we doing against them at quarter three?

Amanda Blanc

So we're making good progress against our four priorities.

So let's start with customer. Obviously customer is at the heart of everything that we do at Aviva and we've been thinking a lot about how we can help our customers during this difficult time. So we've launched some more affordable propositions from motor and home

and we're really pleased with that and we're seeing really good uptake

of those products. So that's clearly landing with customers which is really great news. I'm also incredibly proud of the partnerships that we've created with Citizens Advice and also the Money Advice trust which is £9 million of investment to help customers and businesses through what is obviously going to be an incredibly difficult time.

Our second priority is growth. And we've seen strong growth in Wealth, Retirement and Insurance. I'm particularly pleased about growth in some of the key areas for us. So net flows, particularly in our Workplace pensions business. We've seen strong growth in Health and Protection and also in our Commercial Lines business in Canada and in the UK.

We've also completed the acquisition of Succession Wealth and that really helps our growth

in the wealth business because it gives us really high-quality advice that our customers we believe need.

So our third priority area is obviously around efficiency and we are on track to deliver the £750 million gross of inflation efficiency targets that we put in place in March of this year by 2024. There has been good progress around cost reduction across all areas of the business and particularly Aviva Investors have made some excellent progress in the last quarter announcing a significant outsourcing deal.

So I think bearing in mind the difficult environment that we're in we've made great progress here.

And finally on sustainability. We've been awarded number one European financial institution for the new world Benchmarking Alliance Financial System Benchmark.

Obviously we've got a strong history in ESG but that is a real benchmark and a real opportunity for us to play an important part in this important topic, which is something

I'm incredibly proud of.

Kofi Eschoe-Wilson

Thanks, Amanda. And finally are you optimistic about 2023?

Amanda Blanc

I am optimistic because I think what you've seen in the last quarter is that our trading

has been very positive. The third quarter numbers are strong. We're under no illusions that the backdrop is clearly very difficult economically, but we are really confident in the outlook

for Aviva.

We believe that we can excel and deliver on the promises that we have laid out. Our position is strong. Our model is resilient. And we're delivering on the strategy.

Kofi Eschoe-Wilson

Any messages to colleagues as we come to the end of the year?

Amanda Blanc

I have. What I would say is look at what we've achieved so far this year. Really strong results despite everything else that is going on.

We've got great performance across all of our key areas: growth, customer, efficiency and sustainability. I would say to them keep going to the end of the year.

I know it's hard work, but look at what we have achieved so far, there's so much more that could be done.

And I would just also want to say obviously, thank you.

Kofi Eschoe-Wilson

Fantastic, thanks a lot for your time today.

1. Net flows annualised as a percentage of opening assets under management

2. References to sales represent present value of new business premiums (PVNBP) which is an Alternative Performance Measure (APM). Further information can be found in the 'Other information' section of our Half Year 2022 Report

3. Baseline controllable costs exclude strategic investment, cost reduction implementation, IFRS 17 and other costs not included in the 2018 baseline

4. The Board has not approved or made any decision to pay any dividend in respect of any future period

Enquiries

Analysts:

Rupert Taylor Rea
+44 (0)7385 494 440

Joel von Sternberg
+44 (0)7384 231 238

Michael O'Hara
 +44(0) 7837 234 388

Media:

Andrew Reid 
+44 (0)7800 694 276

Sarah Swailes
+44 (0)7800 694 859

Notes to editors

  • Throughout this trading update we use a range of financial metrics to measure our performance and financial strength. These metrics include Alternative Performance Measures (APMs), which are non-GAAP measures that are not bound by the requirements of IFRS and Solvency II. A complete list and further guidance in respect of the APMs used by the Group can be found in the 'Other information' section of the 2022 Interim Results Announcement.
  • All figures have been translated at average exchange rates applying for the period, with the exception of the capital position which is translated at the closing rates on 30 September 2022. The average rates employed in this announcement are 1 euro = £0.85 (Q3 2021: 1 euro = £0.86) and CAD$1 = £0.62 (Q3 2021: CAD$1 = £0.58). Growth rates in this announcement have been provided in sterling terms unless stated otherwise. Where percentage movements are quoted on a constant currency basis, this is calculated by applying year to date average exchange rates to prior period.
  • We are the UK's leading Insurance, Wealth & Retirement business and we operate in the UK, Ireland and Canada. We also have international investments in Singapore, China and India.
  • We help our 18.5 million customers make the most out of life, plan for the future, and have the confidence that if things go wrong we’ll be there to put it right.
  • We have been taking care of people for 325 years, in line with our purpose of being ‘with you today, for a better tomorrow’. In 2021, we paid £30.2 billion in claims and benefits to our customers. 
  • Aviva is a market leader in sustainability. In 2021, we announced our plan to become a Net Zero carbon emissions company by 2040, the first major insurance company in the world to do so. This plan means Net Zero carbon emissions from our investments by 2040; setting out a clear pathway to get there with a cut of 25% in the carbon intensity of our investments by 2025 and of 60% by 2030; and Net Zero carbon emissions from our own operations and supply chain by 2030. Find out more about our climate goals at www.aviva.com/climate-goals and our sustainability ambition and action at www.aviva.com/sustainability
  • Aviva is a Living Wage and Living Hours employer and provides market-leading benefits for our people, including flexible working, paid carers leave and equal parental leave. Find out more at www.aviva.com/about-us/our-people
  • As at 30 June 2022, total Group assets under management at Aviva Group were £353 billion and our Solvency II shareholder capital surplus as at 30 September 2022 was £8.8 billion. Our shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange and we are a member of the FTSE 100 index.
  • For more details on what we do, our business and how we help our customers, visit www.aviva.com/about-us

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