Aviva announced that its UK general insurance operations increased its operating profit by 10% to £676m, up from £611m in 2002. The combined ratio was 99%..
Aviva group chief executive Richard Harvey said overall the company had produced strong results as it announced a 6% increase on operating profit for the year ending 31 December 2003.
Operating profit reached £1,907m for 2003, compared with £1,702m for 2002.
Pretax profit for both continued and discontinued operations grew to £1,390m for the year, up from a loss of £282m for the previous comparable period.
The company said the UK general insurance business benefited from favourable weather-related claims during the year, although it said this was partly offset by a small increase in subsidence costs.
It said the strength of its UK reserves would enable it to raise the net retention on its UK catastrophe reinsurance programme by at least £50m.
The combined ratio for the UK personal lines business was 101% for the year. It said it had achieved rate increases of 3% for personal motor and 4% for homeowners, both slightly higher than in 2002.
For the commercial lines business, net written premiums increased by 11% to £2.1bn, with a combined ratio of 96%.
Aviva said the closure of Hill House Hammond, announced earlier this month, was expected to have costs of approximately £60m, which would be reported as an exceptional item in the 2004 final results.
Harvey said the strong position of the company would allow the company to broaden its range of services, particularly with the growth of NU Rescue and the introduction of car and electrical goods purchasing products.
