Aviva’s profit up slightly in 2018

Yearly operating profit for 2018 was up 2% to £3.12 billion ($4.08 billion) in 2017 for Aviva PLC, the London-based company said in its earnings statement Thursday.

The company’s general insurance net written premiums were roughly flat at £9.11 billion compared with £9.14 billion in 2017 and the general insurance combined operating ratio was stable at 96.6% in 2018, the statement said.

General insurance operating profit was flat at £704 million for both 2018 and 2017, the statement said.

Net written premium rose 3% in the U.K. to £4.19 billion as the region’s combined ratio barely budged to 93.8% from 93.9% in 2017.

Net written premium in Canada was off 3% to £2.93 billion as the combined ratio there slipped to 102.4% from 102.2% in 2017, the statement said.

“Our key profit measure, operating earnings per share, is up 7%,” Sir Adrian Montague, chairman, said in the statement. “Just under half our earnings growth is due to higher profits from our major businesses, with the rest of the increase due to our ordinary share buy-back, debt reduction and a higher net contribution from longevity and assumption changes.”