UBS repeated a ‘buy’ recommendation for Aviva PLC (LSE:AV.) after Wednesday’s first quarter results met the Swiss bank’s expectations.
Aviva this morning marked out the annuities and equity release business as the star performer in the first quarter as it weighed in with UK and Ireland total life sales of £8.4bn, up 2% year-on-year.
The general insurance business was blown off course by £70mln of costs from storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin. This pushed up the combined operating ratio of this part of the business to 96.4% from 90.6% - anything over 100% would mean Aviva was making a loss from writing general insurance.
Strategically, the company is now focused on generating income rather than growth for investors.
UBS analyst Nasib Ahmed noted that Aviva’s leverage was a touch above our expectations which the bank believes it allows for the £3.75bn capital return and debt repayment in April.
Ahmed said he is confident that Aviva remained on track to meet cash, fund generation and cost reduction targets.
Elsewhere. Jefferies rates Aviva as a ‘hold’ with a 460p price target.
In a note, Jefferies said: “Net inflows of £2.7bn in Wealth were resilient, however Aviva Investors reported net outflows of £4.3bn. GI Commercial reported strong growth, however the overall COR of 96.4% was lower than our expectations, driven by weather losses.”
Earlier this week, Aviva released £3.75bn to shareholders via a B-share programme and will return a further £1bn by the end of this month.
Aviva said its dividend guidance of around £870mln for 2022 and £915mln for 2023 "remains unchanged".
Following the capital return and recent share consolidation, this would be equivalent to per share amounts of 31.0p and 32.5p respectively. In turn that equates to a current-year yield of 7.5%.
Aviva said it was on course to deliver £750mln of gross cost savings by 2024.