Aviva tops earning forecasts on home, motor insurance price rises
H1 operating profit 875 mln stg vs forecast 830 mln
General insurance premiums up 15%
To launch long-term fund for unlisted equity in H2
Adds background paragraph 4, CEO comment 6-7, detail 9-12
By Carolyn Cohn
LONDON, Aug 14 (Reuters) -British insurer Aviva AV.L beat first-half profit expectations following a rise in general insurance premiums in Britain and Ireland, and said on Wednesday it remained confident of meeting its 2026 targets.
The life and general insurer, whose main businesses are in Britain, Canada and Ireland, posted a 14% rise in operating profit to 875 million pounds ($1.12 billion), above analysts' average forecast of 830 million pounds.
It saw a 15% rise in general insurance premiums overall, with an 18% rise in Britain and Ireland.
Aviva set out three-year targets last year, including to achieve annual operating profit of 2 billion pounds by 2026.
Insurers have faced criticism for raising premiums for motor and home insurance. They say this is due to inflation and supply chain issues following the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, with weather losses adding to pressure on home insurance prices.
The motor insurance market was "super competitive and it's highly dynamic", Chief Executive Amanda Blanc told a media call.
"I don't think that the industry can be accused of profiteering."
However, Aviva's retirement sales fell 6% to 3 billion pounds due to a drop in equity release mortgages and in sales of bulk annuities, insurance for corporate pension schemes.
Aviva said it would continue to look at "targeted M&A" following recent deals such as its purchase of U.S. insurer AIG's AIG.N UK life insurance business.
Blanc told the media call that the insurer would launch a long-term asset fund for unlisted equity in the second half.
Aviva is one of the signatories of Britain's "Mansion House Compact", in which insurers and pension funds voluntarily commit to investing 5% of their defined contribution pension schemes in unlisted companies by 2030.
Aviva shares were down 0.3% at 0732 GMT, compared with a 0.5% rise in the FTSE 100 .FTSE.
The company said it would pay an interim dividend of 11.9 pence per share, up 7% and in line with forecasts.
($1 = 0.7796 pounds)
Reporting by Carolyn Cohn, Editing by Lawrence White and Mark Potter
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
