Aviva Upgrades Its Earnings Growth Targets

Aviva PLC (AV.LN) said Thursday that it is raising its expectations for annual earnings growth to more than 5% a year from 2019 onward.

The insurance company is also lifting its dividend payout ratio target to between 55% and 60% of operating earnings per share by 2020, as higher-quality earnings and cash flows from its businesses become less capital-intensive.

Aviva also said that its remittance target had increased from 7 billion pounds ($9.38 billion) to GBP8 billion. This, the insurer said, will allow it to deploy GBP3 billion of excess cash over 2018 and 2019, which in turns will be used to repay GBP900 million of debt in 2018, as well as provide funding for bolt-on acquisitions and additional returns for investors.

Write to Oliver Griffin at oliver.griffin@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 30, 2017 02:34 ET (07:34 GMT)