Last year was a busy one for Aviva. The UK insurance giant make progress on underwriting, acquisitions, personal lines and more. At the end of the year they announced a bid to acquire Direct Line. Operating profit stood at 1.7billion sterling, so Aviva can afford to absorb the best bit of DLG, and make savings via scale in the motor insurance sector in 2025. The shareholder dividend is over 37p per share.
The financial results in detail are here by the way. Aviva currently has a Trustpilot rating of 72% on five star reviews too, which is higher than most insurance brands. By contrast Direct Line scores 60% (at 5 stars)on Trustpilot. These things might appear trivial, but they do influence consumer buying in the UK.
Meanwhile here is a statement from the UK& Ireland CEO Jason Storah;
Today we announced our financial results for 2024. This was a truly stand-out year for our UK and Ireland General Insurance business, with significant progress across the board.
Yet again we’ve delivered double-digit growth in UK Personal Lines, driven largely by increased volumes across our retail business. Rapid growth has continued for Aviva Zero, our carbon-conscious car insurance product, and we’ve seen further new business through price comparison sites, while retaining our robust rating. Our Personal Lines customer numbers grew by 10% in 2024, and we’ve achieved a substantial increase in customers holding multiple Aviva products.
This is echoed in UK Commercial Lines, where we’ve also seen double-digit growth across both SME and Global Corporate and Specialty Lines. We’ve continued to increase our capability with over 600 underwriting license upgrades and we’ve strengthened our regional network by introducing new branches and expanding our presence in existing locations. This has been complemented by digital initiatives including scaling intelligent underwriting automation.
In 2024, we achieved significant milestones through acquisitions and partnerships. We completed our acquisition of Probitas, allowing us to expand our underwriting territories through Lloyds, and we’ve launched our travel insurance partnership with Nationwide Building Society.
And in Ireland we’ve maintained our market position and launched our new joint venture health insurance business, offering a simplified range of plans direct to consumers.
We’ve offered choice to our customers with cost-conscious products. QuoteMeHappy Motor Essentials has helped over 175,000 customers access insurance, while our QuoteMeHappy Connect proposition offers personalised premiums to young drivers based on how safely they drive.
For those making a motor claim, we’ve expanded our vehicle repair centre network, Solus, with three new sites in 2024, including our biggest site to date in Dunstable, helping customers to get back on the road quickly and safely.
We’re also directly supporting customers with new technologies. In claims, we are utilising GenAI to summarise key information for claims handlers, improving customer service efficiency.
And we’re helping to tackle issues caused by extreme weather events. We’ve already pledged over £80 million towards nature-based solutions projects across the UK which will run for several years, working to capture carbon, contributing towards flood resilience and helping to restore natural habitats.
2024 was an outstanding year thanks to the remarkable efforts of our colleagues, brokers and partners. I’d like to say a heartfelt “thank you” to everyone who played a part.
Be the first to comment