Life and general insurance lift Aviva’s H1 results

UK’s Aviva on Aug. 3 reported higher first half operating profit driven by both life insurance and general insurance operations.

Aviva’s operating profit increased 11 percent year on year to £1.47 billion in the first six months of 2017.

Operating profit from general insurance and health increased 25 percent to £417 million over the period. General insurance net written premiums grew 17 percent to £4.69 billion, reflecting a combination of underlying growth, the acquisition of RBC Insurance in Canada in July 2016 and foreign exchange benefits. The general insurance underwriting result increased 50 percent to £244 million driven by improved normalised accident year combined ratios across all regions and benign weather in the UK and Europe. Combined operating ratio in the general insurance business improved slightly to 94.5 percent in the first half from 95.7 a year earlier.

Life insurance operating profit grew 8 percent to £1.32 billion. In UK life, each of the core product segments of long-term savings, protection and annuities and equity release delivered double-digit growth in operating profit. In the European life businesses, improved performances in France and Poland plus positive foreign exchange effects more than offset a lower contribution from the disposed Antarius business in France.

“Aviva is delivering. For the fourth year in a row we have grown operating profit, up 11 percent, reflecting positive performances across Aviva’s businesses world-wide,” said CEO Mark Wilson.

“The benefits of our geographic and product diversity are clear and Aviva has numerous sources of growth. In the first half of 2017 we increased sales right across the group and delivered strong growth in operating profit in the UK, Europe and Aviva Investors.”

Overall, profit after tax more than tripled to £716 million in the first half of the year from £201 million in the same period a year ago.

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