Aviva Plc Announces Interim Results Statement

LONDON--(Marketwire - Aug 9, 2012) -

News Release
Aviva plc Interim Results Statement

6 months to 30 June 2012

9 August 2012



* Interim operating profit before restructuring costs down 2%

* Interim operating profit after restructuring costs down 10%

   - Impact of restructuring costs, foreign exchange, UK weather

* GBP876 million writedown of US goodwill

* Dividend held at 10p per share

Dear shareholders,

Aviva plc today announced its interim results for the first half of
2012.

Operating profit (including restructuring costs) was down 10% to GBP935
million(1) (HY11 GBP1,035 million) as a result of the sale of RAC,
adverse foreign exchange movements, the adverse impact of recent UK
weather and higher restructuring costs as we implement the strategic
plan. Interim operating profit before restructuring costs was down 2%
to GBP1,121 million.

There was a net loss after tax of GBP681 million (HY11 profit after tax:
GBP465 million). At the half year we concluded that it was necessary to
write down GBP876 million of goodwill and intangibles in our US
business.

The interim dividend is held at 10p per share.

General insurance operating profit has marginally improved with a
combined operating ratio of 95.5%. Life insurance operating profit was
lower overall, with stable operating profits in the UK, our largest
market, offset by lower profits from overseas, mainly from the
eurozone.

Aviva's capital position is ahead of full year 2011. At 30 June 2012
our group economic capital surplus was GBP4.5 billion (ratio: c.140%)
and the IGD solvency surplus was GBP3.1 billion (ratio: c.150%).

In July, we announced our revised strategic plan and execution is on
track. The first priority remains to build Aviva's financial strength.
In the second quarter we reduced our Italian sovereign bond holdings by
just under EUR2 billion(2). In July we sold 21% of Delta Lloyd,
bringing our holding below 20%. We expect to announce further progress
in the delivery of our plan in the second half of the year.

We have also committed to reduce the cost base by GBP400 million. We
have already removed the regional layer of our structure, reduced the
number of management layers and have made substantive changes to
promote a sharper performance ethic across the group.

While this has been a challenging first half, we are taking the
necessary actions to improve our position going forward. This
environment is likely to continue and therefore we expect second half
performance trends to be broadly similar to the first six months, but
with higher restructuring costs as we implement our strategic plan.

John McFarlane, Chairman



(1) All numbers are on a continuing basis, which for the comparative
period excludes Delta Lloyd as a discontinued operation.

(2) This is equivalent to a reduction in shareholder exposure in
participating and shareholder funds, net of minority interests and
market movements of just under GBP1 billion.


Click on, or paste the following link into your web browser, to view
the associated PDF document.

 http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/6393J_1-2012-8-8.pdf 


Contacts

Investor contacts
Pat Regan          +44 (0)20 7662 2228
Charles Barrows    +44 (0)20 7662 8115
David Elliot       +44 (0)207 662 8048

Media contacts
Nigel Prideaux     +44 (0)20 7662 0215
Andrew Reid        +44 (0)20 7662 3131
Sue Winston        +44 (0)20 7662 8221

Timings
Media conference call
0730 hrs BST

Analyst presentation
0930 hrs BST

Presentation slides available
at  www.aviva.com   from
0700 hrs BST

Live webcast
 www.aviva.com 





                    This information is provided by RNS
          The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END