It also announced a £750m share buyback to commence immediately
Aviva’s share price is up 4% today, as chief executive Amanda Blanc promised to return billions to shareholders.
Blanc pledged to return at least £4bn to shareholders by June 2022, Blanc revealed in its H1 financial results released this morning (12 August).
This includes up to £750m in share buyback to commence immediately.
The insurer said that its portfolio was “substantially complete” with eight businesses sold for £7.5bn, as part of the overhaul under Blanc’s leadership to shrink the business by selling off foreign assets to become a better performing UK champion.
Completed sales in H1 were Aviva Vita in Italy and AvivaSA in Turkey, meanwhile remaining completions of sales are expected by the end of 2021.
Blanc said: “We are delivering on our commitment to make a substantial capital return to our shareholders.
“We intend to return at least £4bn to investors by the end of the first half of 2022, starting with a share buyback of up to £750m.”
It follows Aviva selling its majority stake in smart home insurtech Neos to Sky UK in July.
’Good progress’
Aviva increased its interim dividend by 5% to 7.35p.
Despite the £750m share buyback being in line with analysts’ estimates, it falls £5bn short of the figure demanded by its Swedish investor Cevian Capital.
In June Cevian said that had built a stake to become Aviva’s largest shareholder, its holding in the insurer is estimated to be worth around £800m.
During a call with journalists this morning Blanc said: “In summary we are making good progress in all of our strategic priorities.”
Aviva intends to return at least £4bn to its shareholders by June 2022, the insurer’s chief executive revealed in its H1 financial results released this morning (12 August).
This includes up to £750m in share buyback to commence immediately.
The insurer said that its portfolio was “substantially complete” with eight businesses sold for £7.5bn, as part of the overhaul under Blanc’s leadership to shrink the business by selling off foreign assets to become a better performing UK champion.
Completed sales in H1 were Aviva Vita in Italy and AvivaSA in Turkey, meanwhile remaining completions of sales are expected by the end of 2021.
Blanc said: “We are delivering on our commitment to make a substantial capital return to our shareholders.
“We intend to return at least £4bn to investors by the end of the first half of 2022, starting with a share buyback of up to £750m.”
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