Aviva PLC (LON:AV.) increased its dividend 3% as the life insurer reported stronger returns for last year and said it would “take robust action across the portfolio” to improve growth.
Operating profit for 2019 came out at a record £3.2bn, up 6% on the previous year, which was an acceleration on the 1% growth seen in the first half.
Maurice Tulloch, who was promoted to chief executive last March, unveiled a strategic vision for Aviva late last year that was less aggressive than some investors were hoping, as he pledged to make the company “more commercially focused” as well as cutting costs and taking a “more disciplined” approach to investment.
The Scotsman stated on Thursday that, “we've made good progress, but there is much more to do”.
Saying his objective was to “run Aviva better”, he said, “we will focus capital and resources where we can achieve competitive advantage and strong returns and we will take robust action across the portfolio where our performance falls short or where we can see a better way of delivering value to our shareholders”.
Against one of Tulloch's new target of cutting costs by £300mln by 2022, net savings of £72mln were made in the year with implementation costs of £59mln incurred. For 2020, the plan is to cut another £150mln.
Capital levels were strong with a Solvency II surplus of £12.6bn after cash remittances of £2.6bn as customer numbers increased 2% to 33.4mln.
The board declared a final dividend of 21.4p per share, meaning the total dividend was increased 3% to 30.9p.