Aviva 1st Half Operating Profit +11%; Raises Dividend

Insurer Aviva PLC (AV.LN) reported Thursday an 11% rise in first-half operating profit, raised its dividend and said it is confident to sustain growth in the coming years.

For the half year ended June 30 the 300-year old company, which has businesses across 16 markets in the U.K., Europe, Asia and Canada, made an operating profit of 1.47 billion pounds ($1.94 billion), compared with GBP1.33 billion a year earlier. Net profit rose to GBP637 million from GBP130 million for the first half of 2016.

The board has raised the interim dividend 13% to 8.4 pence a share.

Aviva said its solvency II capital surplus--a measure of financial stability--rose to GBP11.4 billion, from GBP11.3 billion a year earlier. Its IFRS net asset value fell 0.5% to 412 pence.

The company, which is the world's sixth-largest insurance company measured by net premium income, had a solvency II ratio of 193%.

Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com; @IanWalk40289749

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 03, 2017 02:43 ET (06:43 GMT)