Insurer Aviva grew the total value of its written premiums in Ireland by 12 per cent to £157 million (€181.3 million) in the first quarter of the year, it said in a trading update on Thursday.
The company, which has 25.2 million customers in Ireland, Britain and Canada, said it grew personal lines in Ireland by 26 per cent from £60 million to £75 million, while commercial lines grew by 2 per cent to £82 million.
Amanda Blanc, group chief executive, said the company “delivered another quarter of strong trading, building momentum in 2026”.
“We made excellent progress in general insurance, growing premiums by 19 per cent and improving profitability significantly in the UK, Ireland and Canada,” she added.
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Ireland premiums were up 12 per cent to £157 million, which the group said reflected “strong retention” and the launch of a new partnership in personal lines.
Undiscounted combined operating ratio, which is a key insurance metric measuring profitability, improved by 18.5 percentage points to 99.3 per cent. A ratio under 100 per cent indicates an underwriting profit.
The FTSE 100-listed group said the performance in this metric reflected “prior-year impacts from Storm Éowyn and partly offset by large losses in the current period”.
The company said sales in Ireland within its retirement division were up by 50 per cent from £700 million to £1.1 billion.
This was driven by “large scheme wins” in group protection and impacts from regulatory changes in pensions. The value of new business increased 48 per cent from £12 million to £18 million.
Blanc separately said businesses were being harmed by political turmoil in Britain, as UK prime minister Keir Starmer faces a leadership challenge.
“There have been too many changes of government strategy, leadership, just in my six years of being CEO, and I think that is harmful to a major economy such as the UK and how we are perceived abroad,” Blanc said.
“We don’t operate in a vacuum, and we think it’s very important that we get some stability.”
Blanc said many of the Labour government’s policies, including on pensions reform, had been well received by companies, but uncertainty had consequences, citing the markets crisis during the short-lived premiership of former Conservative leader Liz Truss.
“We’ve only got to look at the market reaction to [Truss’s] mini-budget to gilts – these are the sort of things that really matter,” she added.
Total assets under management at Aviva Group amounted to £454 billion at the end of last year, while its shareholder capital surplus on March 31st was £6.1 billion. Its shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange. – Additional reporting: Reuters
