Operating profits at Aviva Ireland rise by 20% to €81.9m

Aviva Ireland has reported a 20 per cent hike in operating profit for 2016 as it continues to turn around its financial performance following a major restructuring.

The insurer, which recently announced a change to its legal structure in Ireland to once again become a fully-fledged subsidiary to its UK parent, said full-year profits rose climbed to €81.9 million last year from €68 million in 2015.

The company’s general insurance business recorded a 19 per cent rise in net written premium to €461 million from €388 million as its combined operating ratio, a key measure for profitability in general insurance, was 91.1 per cent, 3½ percentage points better than the same period last year.

Operating profit rose by 25 per cent at the division to €49.9 million boosted by benign weather conditions throughout 2016.

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"We increased our customer numbers while maintaining our strategy of providing cover at a price that is competitive and sustainable. The number of customers doing business with us digitally has doubled and we have seen a 90 per cent increase in the number who have bought more than one of our products," chief executive John Quinlan said.

Operating profits at Aviva Ireland’s life insurance business increased 14 per cent to €32 million as the value of new business rose 31 per cent to €29.1 million.

“Growth has been particularly strong in our range of post retirement products but volumes were up in a large number of products where we outperformed the market,” Mr Quinlan said.

Aviva Ireland, which employs 1,150 people in Dublin, Galway and Cork, provides insurance to a million customers.

In 2012, the group reduced its employee headcount by 55 per cent and closed all its branches. It also removed a third of its motor portfolio that same year, withdrawing from certain segments of the market as it sought to turn around its financial performance.