Aviva plc reports growth in value of business for first nine months

Aviva plc has reported a growth in its value of business for the first nine months of the year, and a combined operating ratio for its general insurance business in Canada of 95.2%.

“Progress is in line with our expectations and we remain focused on delivering cash flow plus growth,” Mark Wilson, the group CEO noted in a statement on the company’s earnings.

“In the first nine months of 2013 our key measure of growth, value of new business, increased by 14%,” he noted. That metric reached £571 million for the first three quarters of the year, up from £503 million for the first nine months of 2012.

“We had strong performances from France and our growth markets of Turkey, Poland and Asia. Conversely, value of new business remains depressed in our turnaround businesses of Italy and Spain, and this is being addressed,” Wilson also noted.

“Capital generation in the period was stable at £1.3 billion and our economic capital surplus now stands at £8 billion. We continue to make satisfactory progress on cost reduction, with operating expenses 10% below the 2011 baseline,” he continued.

“Aviva remains in the early stages of turnaround. Whilst we have resolved a key issue in the disposal of our U.S. business and have made progress in a number of areas, there remains much work to be done.”

Overall, Aviva reported a general insurance combined operating ratio of 96.9% for the first nine months of the year.