Aviva reports an 8 per cent rise in half-year operating profit, driven by soaring demand for private health insurance amid NHS strikes.
Workplace reached £100 billion AUM, net flows grew 25 per cent while individual protection sales grew by over 20 per cent and health premiums grew by 58 per cent.
Aviva group chief executive officer Amanda Blanc says: “Aviva is delivering consistently strong and profitable growth. In the first half of 2023, we grew sales, operating profit and dividends for our shareholders. Our excellent trading momentum is a direct result of the decisions we have taken over the last three years to re-focus Aviva. Today, Aviva has leading positions in growing markets, providing strong resilience in the current economic climate.
“In the UK & Ireland, general insurance premiums were up 13 per cent, with healthy sales in both our commercial and personal lines businesses, where our Aviva Zero product has now attracted 250,000 new policies since launch. In Wealth, our market-leading Workplace business grew net flows by 25 per cent.
“We continue to see very strong demand for private health insurance, with sales increasing by 58 per cent as we expanded our services to corporate and individual customers. Our excellent Canadian general insurance business is also growing well, with sales 12 per cent higher as a result of a strong performance in commercial lines, and the continued success of our local banking partnership.
“Aviva’s cash and capital position is robust and, in line with our guidance, we have increased the interim dividend by 8 per cent to 11.1p, and estimate full year 2023 operating profit growth of 5 per cent to 7 per cent. We expect to make further strong progress with our clear strategy, growth opportunities in all of our markets, and the £1 billion investment well underway to accelerate our future performance.
“Aviva’s performance and prospects have been transformed from just a few years ago. Today’s Aviva is about delivery and momentum, and these results show that Aviva is consistently meeting its promises. We expect to exceed our financial targets and we are making progress each quarter, as we said we would. I remain confident and excited that there is so much more Aviva can and will achieve.”
Aviva CEO Doug Brown says: “We have continued to see strong performance across our Insurance, Wealth and Retirement businesses. We saw a big increase in net flows in our Workplace business, winning 211 new schemes and cementing our position as number one in the market with £100 billion assets under administration.
“I am delighted that we are able to help more customers with their health and protection needs. In our Health business we continued to build on our strong momentum by further increasing sales through both the corporate and consumer channels. In Individual Protection we delivered strong growth through IFA and consumer channels.
“We had another very successful half-year in our BPA business, signing large deals with Thomas Cook and Arcadia Group and I am confident about the second half. Our Retirement division also saw strong growth in individual annuities, where increased interest rates have had a positive effect.
“Despite the challenging economic environment and continued market volatility, which impacted net flows in our platform business, we have once again seen strong performance across our business as a whole.”
