5th Mar 2020 07:47
(Alliance News) - Insurer Aviva PLC on Thursday said it has made good progress, though underwriting profitability has declined as expected.
The 2019 results are Chief Executive Maurice Tulloch's first as CEO. Tulloch, formerly the head of Aviva's International Insurance unit, was promoted a year ago, around the same time as 2018 results.
Aviva posted a statutory pretax profit of GBP3.93 billion for 2019, more than double the GBP1.65 billion reported a year prior. This was helped by a GBP40.58 billion investment income, after a GBP10.91 billion loss in 2018.
Taking into account a change to accounting standards, Aviva's pretax profit rose 58% to GBP3.37 billion.
Operating profit for the year was 6% higher at a record GBP3.18 billion, Aviva reported, beating market consensus of a figure of GBP3.10 billion.
Aviva's return on equity improved to 14.3% from 12.%, while the Solvency II cover ratio was 206% from 204%.
Aviva is paying a final dividend of 21.40 pence per share. This takes the 2019 total to 30.90p, 3% higher than the year before.
Income was GBP31.24 billion, rising 9.0% on the year before, with the value of new business up 2% to GBP1.22 billion. General insurance net written premiums rose 2% to GBP9.3 billion, and customer numbers were up 2% to 33.4 million.
The combined operating ratio in general insurance, a measure of underwriting profitability, worsened to 97.5% from 97.2%, though this met market expectations.
"In 2019, we set out our priorities and financial targets, strengthened our leadership team and remained focused on helping our customers prepare for a better future. We've made good progress, but there is much more to do," said Tulloch.
Tulloch said the outlook in general insurance is positive in most of Aviva's markets, adding: "We will improve business performance and enhance returns through disciplined action on expenses and underwriting.
"We will focus capital and resources where we can achieve competitive advantage and strong returns and we will take robust action across the portfolio where our performance falls short or where we can see a better way of delivering value to our shareholders."
By George Collard; [email protected]
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