Aviva Operating Profit Beats Views

By Elena Vardon

Aviva beat its guidance and analyst expectations as it reported higher operating profit for the first half of 2023 on growth across its divisions and said it expects to exceed its mid-term targets.

The British insurer and asset manager on Wednesday posted an operating profit for the six months ended June 30 of 715 million pounds ($908.5 million), ahead of company-complied consensus expectations of GBP701 million and its recently-issued guidance of around GBP700 million. This compares with restated GBP661 million reported for the same period the previous year.

It swung to IFRS profit of GBP377 million from a restated loss of GBP198 million, it said.

The FTSE 100-listed group's general insurance gross written premiums reached GBP5.27 billion in the period, beating expectations of GBP5.15 billion and up from GBP4.69 billion a year earlier.

The company closed the half year with a solvency II cover ratio--a measure of capital strength--of 202% compared with 196% at March 31 and consensus of 199%.

Aviva declared an interim dividend of 11.1 pence a share, up from 10.3 pence a year prior.

Write to Elena Vardon at elena.vardon@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 16, 2023 02:40 ET (06:40 GMT)

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