Aviva beats expectations

CEO Amanda Blanc has done a decent job at Aviva but having divested lots of businesses early in her tenure and returned capital to shareholders, picking the low hanging fruit in terms of turning the company’s fortunes around, she has found life more difficult since.

The company’s relative lack of progress has been as much about what is happening externally, as inflation surges and market volatility has increased.

AJ Bell’s Russ Mould said: “Today’s results are welcome as the company lifts its guidance on some core metrics and handily beats profit expectations. Blanc is now into the nitty gritty of eking out a more efficient performance from her charge and is making decent progress with cutting costs.

“A big increase in demand for private health insurance is proving a useful driver for the business – reflecting the big NHS backlog which is leading to long delays for badly needed procedures.”