Aviva plc FY 2007 Part 1
Aviva PLC
28 February 2008
Aviva plc FY 2007 Part 1
Part 1 of 5
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News release
28 February 2008
AVIVA PLC
PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2007
• Excellent long-term savings result offsets general insurance adverse weather impact
- EEV operating profit up 1% to £3,286m (2006:£3,251m)
• Lower IFRS,return reflects impact of adverse weather and reduced investment gains following higher than expected
gains in 2006
- IFRS operating profit down 15% to £2,228(2006:£2,609m); IFRS earnings per share 49.2p (2006:87.5p)
• Strong long-term savings sales and profits across all regions
- Life EEV operating profit up 35% to £2,753m (2006: £2,033m)
- Long-term savings new business sales up 25% to £38.6bn; increased margin of 3.7% (2006: 3.5%)
• General insurance profits lower in a challenging year
- General insurance and health operating profit down 39% to £1,033m (2006:£1,686m)
- Combined operating ratio (COR) of 100% (2006: 94%); 95% before impact of £475m UK exceptional weather losses
• Healthy balance sheet
- Net asset value per share of 772p, up 13%
- Shareholder exposure to equity market volatility reduced by £3.4 billion sale of equities in 2007
- Conservative balance sheet not materially affected by global credit concerns
• Dividend increase of 10% to 33.00p
- Demonstrates confidence in delivery against stated targets
• Delivering on 'One Aviva, twice the value' vision
- New group target to double IFRS total earnings per share by 2012 at the latest, to drive further dividend growth
- New globally integrated asset management business, 'Aviva Investors', to transform investment model and increase
third party business, notably through cross-border sales
Andrew Moss, group chief executive, commented:
'2007 brought change at Aviva as we sharpened our focus on growth and efficiency in line with our 'One Aviva, twice the
value' vision. The advantage of our diverse business model is demonstrated by robust financial results which show our
fast-growing life business offsetting the exceptional losses caused by the worst UK floods for 60 years.
'In volatile investment markets our conservative approach to investment risk has served us well. In the second half of
2007 we reduced shareholder exposure to equity market volatility by selling £3.4 billion of equities. Net asset value
per share is up 13%.
'Although the external environment is uncertain, customers need the products we provide and our markets remain
fundamentally attractive. We have a strong balance sheet and a clear strategy and we believe now is the time to set
ourselves a further target in line with our vision of 'One Aviva, twice the value'. In addition to our existing growth
and efficiency targets, we aim to double IFRS total earnings per share by 2012, at the latest, and drive further
dividend growth.'
Worldwide highlights 2007 2006 Local currency growth
Operating profit - EEV basis*,^ £3,286m £3,251m 1%
Profit after tax - EEV basis £2,134m £2,879m (26)%
Operating profit - IFRS basis**,^ £2,228m £2,609m (15)%
Profit after tax - IFRS basis £1,505m £2,389m (37)%
Earnings per share (total IFRS return) 49.2p 87.5p (44)%
Total dividend per share 33.00p 30.00p 10%
Net asset value per share 772p 683p 13%
Equity shareholders' funds*** £20,253m £17,531m 16%
Return on equity shareholders' funds 11.3% 13.1% -
All operating profit is from continuing operations and all growth rates are quoted in local currency.
* Including life EEV operating return, before tax and exceptional items.
** Before tax and exceptional items.
*** Measured on an EEV basis, excluding preference shares, direct capital instrument and minority interests.
^ 2006 comparative restated for the change in IFRS operating profit definition announced 22 November 2007
(impact on EEV for FSCS levies was £6 million).
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Segmental analysis of Group operating profit*
For the year ended 31 December
2006 at 2007 Restated
2007 exchange rates 2006
Continuing operations £m £m £m
Life EEV operating return
United Kingdom 864 744 744
France 537 405 402
Ireland 77 (40) (40)
Italy 137 111 110
Netherlands (including Belgium and Germany) 352 331 329
Poland 206 168 162
Spain 239 223 221
Other Europe (5) (13) (13)
Europe 1,543 1,185 1,171
North America 255 26 32
Asia 43 38 37
Australia 48 51 49
Asia Pacific 91 89 86
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2,753 2,044 2,033
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Fund management **
United Kingdom *** 41 38 38
France 10 10 10
Netherlands 17 33 33
Other Europe 4 3 3
Europe 31 46 46
North America 3 3 3
Asia Pacific 15 9 9
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90 96 96
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General insurance and health
United Kingdom^ 433 1,118 1,118
France 70 63 63
Ireland 162 173 172
Netherlands 169 140 139
Other Europe 41 44 43
Europe 442 420 417
North America 154 145 148
Asia Pacific 4 3 3
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1,033 1,686 1,686
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Other operations and regional costs^^ (70) (23) (23)
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Regional operating profit before tax 3,806 3,803 3,792
Corporate centre (157) (160) (160)
Group debt costs and other interest (363) (381) (381)
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Group operating profit before tax 3,286 3,262 3,251
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* Group operating profit before tax. All operating profit is from continuing operations.
** Excludes the proportion of the results of Morley's fund management businesses and of our French asset management
operation Aviva Gestion d'Actifs (AGA) that arise from the provision of fund management services to our life
businesses. These results are included within the Life EEV operating return consistent with CFO Forum EEV
Principles.
*** Includes retail investment business trading as Norwich Union, our collective investment joint venture business
with RBSG and both the UK and international businesses of Morley.
^ UK general insurance includes the results of the Group's reinsurance operations.
^^ Excludes the results of Norwich Union Equity Release. Also excludes the proportion of the results of Norwich
Union Life Services relating to the services provided to the UK life business. These results are included
within the Life EEV operating return.
The total IFRS operating profit for the year to 31 December 2007 was £2,228 million (2006 restated: £2,609 million;
£2,615 million restated at constant exchange rates).
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GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S STATEMENT
Overview
This is my first preliminary results announcement since taking up the role of group chief executive in July 2007. In a
year of considerable change for Aviva, we have delivered a robust financial result in a challenging year, with EEV
operating profit of £3,286 million (2006 restated: £3,251 million). Statutory operating profit on an IFRS basis was
£2,228 million (2006 restated: £2,609 million), particularly reflecting the impact of exceptional adverse weather
events on our UK general insurance business. Our dividend increase of 10% is consistent with our progressive dividend
policy and reflects our confidence in the future prospects for our business.
The quality of the 2007 result confirms the operational resilience of our composite business model, which combines
international long-term savings, general insurance and asset management operations. The strong growth across all
regions in our long-term savings business has offset the £475 million of losses caused by exceptional adverse weather
in the UK. This is backed by a strong and well-diversified balance sheet.
We delivered an excellent result in our long-term saving business, achieving a 25% increase in long-term savings sales
while improving our new business margins. New business profits grew by 32% to £1,174 million and our gross margin on
sales rose to 3.7% from 3.5% in 2006. Growth outstripped our stated targets in Europe and Asia Pacific, and we are on
track to double the size of our US business within three years of the acquisition of AmerUs. In the UK, we have grown
in line with the market and increased margins, while reducing cost overruns and improving service.
In contrast, 2007 was a challenging year for our general insurance business and we experienced a combination of
exceptional weather losses, higher claims and competitive conditions in many of our markets. As a result, our overall
general insurance results reduced to £1,033 million (2006 restated: £1,686 million). We took action to improve our
position as early as 2006 by increasing motor rates in the UK and we have since taken further steps on both rating and
costs during 2007. In light of this, I am confident that the outlook is positive and that we will meet or beat our 98%
combined operating ratio (COR) target while maintaining our strong balance sheet to back this business. We have also
reviewed our reinsurance retention levels to ensure that they remain appropriate in light of current economic and
environmental conditions.
Our general insurance result continued to benefit from profits emerging on the settlement of prior year claims
reflecting our ongoing conservative approach to claims reserving and our focus on claims management initiatives.
At the half year we reported releases of £330 million. The total full year releases of £832 million net of reinsurance
(2006: £598 million) include £440 million in respect of the UK, £310 million for Europe, £52 million for North America
and £30 million for Aviva Re. We continue to manage our reserves prudently to avoid future adverse claims experience
and so emerging prior year profits will continue to be a feature of our general insurance results.
Our conservative approach to managing investment risk has served us well. We have today published new information to
provide reassurance to shareholders on the credit quality of our assets. We continue to manage our position actively
and in the autumn we reduced our exposure to equity market volatility by selling £3.4 billion of equities in our
general insurance shareholder funds and UK pension scheme; this was done at a time when equity markets were
considerably higher than they are today. We invested the proceeds into high grade investment bonds and also increased
our downside protection through derivatives.
'One Aviva, twice the value'
In taking up my new role I appointed a new and energetic executive team which has a proven track record of delivery.
We have a clear vision: 'One Aviva, twice the value'. It signals a period of transformation and a clear focus on
growth and efficiency. We will measure the value created by reference to an additional group target: to double IFRS
total earnings per share by 2012 at the latest, thus driving further dividend growth for our shareholders. This target
aligns closely with our other targets and will be achieved by delivering strong, profitable growth across our
portfolio, particularly in our life business, by achieving our £350 million cost and efficiency savings and by
continuing to manage capital more effectively.
We have a new organisational structure to reflect our scale and international reach, with four regions: UK, Europe,
North America and Asia-Pacific. Each regional CEO has taken a fresh look at the strategy for the region and is
implementing plans to deliver our ambitious growth targets, with a clear focus on profitability. Our priority is to
realise the full potential of our existing businesses. We will also explore new markets and growth opportunities where
they can be financed from our internal resources. For example, we entered into multiple new bancassurance
partnerships in 2007, bringing access to over 50 million potential new customers, and we will see the full benefit
flowing through to our 2008 results.
Review of 2007 results
UK
• Total long-term savings sales up 6% to £14,406 million
• Life EEV operating profit up 16% to £864 million
• Life new business gross margin up to 3.1%
• UK general insurance result down 61% to £433 million, due primarily to exceptional adverse weather
UK Life: We are transforming our UK Life business and growing its profitability. Our objective is to grow new business
sales at least as fast as the market, while maintaining margins, and to drive value from our back book. We wish to
maintain a leadership position in our home market and generate value for customers and shareholders from our focus on
costs, customer retention and service. In 2007, this strategy delivered record sales and profits, with lower costs and
improved service. We also negotiated an innovative arrangement with Swiss Re to outsource the administration of almost
three million policies, thereby enabling us to rationalise our legacy systems and accelerate improvements in customer
service.
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We remain positive in our outlook for our performance in the UK in 2008, given our broad product range and strong
distribution. We believe that this will give us some resilience in uncertain markets, but expect market growth to be
slightly lower than in 2007.
Earlier this month we announced a £2.3 billion special bonus distribution from the inherited estate of two of our
with-profits funds. We have led the industry on this issue in a new regulatory environment. This distribution of
around half of the inherited estate was made possible by the funds' financial strength and performance, and by the
changes made to our investment strategy. 90 per cent of the value will be paid to qualifying policyholders and 10
per cent to shareholders.
In addition, our negotiations with the Policyholder Advocate regarding the potential reattribution of the remainder of
the inherited estate of £2.6 billion continue. We are keen to bring this to a conclusion soon so that we can put an
offer to policyholders as early as possible so that they can decide whether they wish to accept it or not. Further
delay is leading to significant numbers of policyholders becoming ineligible in any reattribution offer. We can only
complete this process if we are able to negotiate an arrangement that is fair to policyholders and shareholders.
UK General Insurance: Our UK General Insurance business had a difficult year. We saw competitive conditions in most
lines of business and the worst floods for 60 years. Our priority has been to provide first-class service to our
45,000 home insurance customers and 6,000 business customers who made claims during these difficult times and I am
pleased to report that we have made interim or full payments in 99% of cases.
We have taken action to address underlying general insurance profitability through previously announced rate increases
in motor, homeowner and commercial lines. In addition, we have embarked on a transformational programme for our UK
general insurance business which will drive our expense ratio down. Our strategy is to focus on insurance fundamentals
to maximise returns through the insurance cycle. This means disciplined underwriting and pricing, controlling the
impact of claims inflation and providing excellent customer service.
In 2007, we benefited from prior year reserve releases of £430 million. This includes £215 million in respect of
non-recurring bodily injury experience, additional reinsurance recoveries and the benefit of claims management
initiatives. We have also reviewed our reinsurance programme and have put in place additional cover to protect us
against multiple weather events.
Europe
• Total long-term savings sales up 19% to £16,486 million
• Life EEV operating profit up 30% to £1,543 million
• Life new business gross margin up to 4.0%
• COR of 89%
In Europe, we delivered growth well in excess of our medium-term target to grow new business sales by an average of 10%
a year to 2010, while increasing new business profit at least as fast. In our substantial businesses of France, Italy
and Spain we outperformed the market, demonstrating our distribution strength and competitive product offerings.
We will continue to seize the unique growth opportunities this region presents. We draw strength from our combination
of mature businesses in northern Europe and the faster growing markets of central and eastern Europe, where we have
already established strong businesses. Through our regional approach we plan to leverage our scale across our markets
and will continue to grow our distribution reach and access to customers, particularly through our significant
bancassurance capability.
Our composite model is reflected in the region with our general insurance business supporting the development of our
long-term savings business. At 89%, the regional COR was well ahead of our group 'meet or beat' target. In 2007, we
benefited from prior year reserve releases of £310 million, including £130 million for Ireland, where new initiatives
reduced the cost of bodily injury claims, and £173 million for the Netherlands, which includes releases from disability
provisions and better than expected claims settlement experience.
North America
• Total long-term savings sales up 39% to £3,602 million (on a pro forma basis)
• Life EEV operating profit up 29% to £255 million (on a pro forma basis)
• Life new business gross margin up to 4.3%
• COR of 98%
In the US, we delivered record sales and improved margins. Aviva's financial backing and brand strength, combined with
the strong fundamentals of the AmerUs business we acquired at the end of 2006, has fuelled our growth. We completed
the integration of AmerUs and will exceed the targeted $45 million cost savings target (£23 million). As anticipated,
our US business was upgraded by AM Best and this, together with the increasing power of the Aviva brand, is already
bringing us access to new distribution.
Our US business offers resilience in a recessionary environment as our products primarily provide guaranteed capital
returns for customers seeking to invest their accumulated funds to provide an income during retirement. We remain
optimistic about our growth prospects in the US and remain on track to double new business sales within three years
of the acquisition of AmerUs, while maintaining margins.
The Canadian general insurance business performed well. In 2007, we benefited from prior year reserve releases of £52
million in respect of positive experience on bodily injury personal motor claims and mandatory motor industry pools.
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Asia-Pacific
• Total long-term savings sales up 60% to £4,089 million
• Life EEV operating profit up 6% to £91 million
• Life new business gross margin remaining strong at 4.3%
In Asia-Pacific, we are growing fast and creating value. We have operations in eight markets and the region is becoming
an increasingly important part of our business, now accounting for 11% of our new long-term savings business.
We entered two new markets in 2007: Taiwan and Malaysia. In January 2008 we also announced our plans to enter the South
Korean long-term savings market. In each case, Aviva was selected as a partner of choice by highly reputable banking
partners. We are making strong progress in our more established markets, growing by over 200% in China during the year
and building our leading bancassurance capability in India, where we now have over 35 distribution agreements.
We continue to explore new markets to increase our footprint in this fast-growing region. We are committed to our
medium-term target to grow long-term savings new business sales by an average of at least 20% a year to 2010.
Asset management
• IFRS operating profit consistent at £155 million
• Funds under management by Aviva fund managers at 31.12.07 up 10% to £316 billion
In September 2007, I appointed Alain Dromer with a brief to harness the power and scale of our investment operations by
creating a globally integrated asset management business.
We are announcing today our plans for 'Aviva Investors'. This is a clear example of our 'One Aviva, twice the value'
strategy in action. Our fund managers manage £316 billion across a broad range of asset classes. We plan to grow
significantly and accelerate the profit contribution of asset management to group profits. We will do this by
increasing the proportion of third party business, notably through cross border sales, and focusing on the fastest
growing markets and client segments. Our strategy will mean transforming our investment model to deliver greater
specialism and focus. This will mean offering the power and scale of our combined resource through one global
investment division as well as generating out-performance through small, autonomous teams engaged in active portfolio
management.
Summary and outlook
The fundamentals of our business are strong. Our composite model brings together our long-term savings business with
its compelling demographic drivers, a global asset management capability, with significant growth potential, and our
general insurance business providing valuable protection for customers and important capital generation for the group.
Although the external environment is uncertain, customers need the products we provide and we draw strength and
resilience from our composite model, broad product portfolio and geographic spread. Our business is backed by a
strong and well-diversified balance sheet, which has not been materially affected by global credit concerns. We remain
confident about the growth prospects for our business and are committed to our growth and efficiency targets. Our new
target, to double IFRS total earnings per share by 2012 at the latest, will align delivery behind our 'One Aviva,
wice the value' vision and drive further dividend growth and value for our shareholders.
Andrew Moss
Group Chief Executive
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Enquiries:
Andrew Moss Group chief executive Telephone +44 (0)20 7662 2679
Philip Scott Group finance director Telephone +44 (0)20 7662 2264
Analysts:
Charles Barrows Investor relations director Telephone +44 (0)20 7662 8115
Jessie Burrows Head of investor relations Telephone +44 (0)20 7662 2111
Media:
Hayley Stimpson Director of external affairs Telephone +44 (0)20 7662 7544
Sue Winston Head of group media relations Telephone +44 (0)20 7662 8221
Danielle Anthony Group media relations manager Telephone +44 (0)20 7662 9511
Vanessa Rhodes Group media relations manager Telephone +44 (0)20 7662 2482
James Murgatroyd/Ed Simpkins Finsbury Telephone +44 (0)20 7251 3801
NEWSWIRES: There will be a conference call today for wire services at 8.15am BST) on +44 (0)20 7162 0025 Quote:
Aviva, Andrew Moss.
ANALYSTS: A presentation to investors and analysts will take place at 9.30am (BST) at the London Stock Exchange,
10 Paternoster Square, London, EC4M 7LS.The investors and analysts presentation is being filmed for live webcast and
can be viewed on the Group's website www.aviva.com or on www.cantos.com. In addition a replay will be available on
these websites later today. There will also be a live teleconference link to the investor and analyst meeting
on +44(0) 20 7138 0839. A replay facility will be available until 11 March 2008 on +44 (0)20 7806 1970. The pass code
is 8404414# for the whole presentation including the question & answer session or 4665957# for the question &
answer session only.
The presentation slides will be available on the Group's website, www.aviva.com/investors/presentations.cfm from
9.00am (GMT).
The Aviva media centre at www.aviva.com/media includes images, company information and news release archive.
Photographs are available from the Aviva media centre at www.aviva.com/media.
Notes to editors
•Aviva is a leading provider of life and pensions to Europe with substantial positions in other markets around the
world, making it the world's fifth largest insurance group based on gross worldwide premiums at 31 December 2006.
•Aviva's principal business activities are long-term savings, fund management and general insurance, with worldwide
total sales* of £49.2 billion and total funds under management of £364 billion at 31 December 2007.
•Based on life and pensions PVNBP, total investment sales and general insurance and health net written premiums
including share of associates' premiums.
•Income statements and cash flows of foreign entities are translated at average exchange rates while their balance
sheets are translated at the closing exchange rates on 31 December 2007.
•The present value of new business premiums (PVNBP) is equal to total single premium sales received in the year plus
the discounted value of annual premiums expected to be received over the term of the new contracts, and is expressed
at the point of sale.
•All growth rates are quoted in local currency.
•This preliminary announcement may include oral and written 'forward-looking statements' with respect to certain of
Aviva's plans and its current goals and expectations relating to its future financial condition, performance and
results. These forward-looking statements sometimes use words such as'anticipate', 'target', 'expect', 'estimate',
'intend', 'plan', 'goal','believe' or other words of similar meaning. By their nature, all forward-looking statements
involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances which may be beyond Aviva's
control, including, among other things, UK domestic and global economic and business conditions, market-related risks
such as fluctuations in interest rates and exchange rates, the policies and actions of regulatory authorities, the
impact of competition, the possible effects of inflation or deflation, the timing impact and other uncertainties
relating to acquisitions by the Aviva Group and relating to other future acquisitions or combinations within relevant
industries, the impact of tax and other legislation and regulations in the jurisdictions in which Aviva and its
affiliates operate, as well as the other risks and uncertainties set forth in our 2006 Annual Report to Shareholders.
As a result, Aviva's actual future financial condition, performance and results may differ materially from the plans,
goals and expectations set forth in Aviva's forward-looking statements, and persons receiving this announcement
should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Aviva undertakes no obligation to update the
forward-looking statements made in this announcement or any other forward-looking statements we may make.
Forward-looking statements made in this announcement are current only as of the date on which such statements are
made.
.
•Following a number of requests from analysts who will be participating in an investor event being held by another
company, the Q1 trading update has been rescheduled to Friday, 25 April 2008, instead of 23 April 2008.
This amendment has resulted in a slightly altered timetable for 25 April 2008, detailed as follows:
07:00 Release to Stock Exchange
08:45-09:30 Media Conference call
09:45-10:30 Analyst Conference call
In line with the new EU transparency reporting standards, Aviva plc will be amending the format of the quarterly
update. The new format will provide new business information and will also provide a update on our other businesses.
We will provide detailed margin disclosures at the interim results announcement and year end results announcement.
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Contents
Page
Operating and financial review 1
European Embedded Value (EEV) basis 20
Summarised consolidated income statement - EEV basis 21
Earnings per share - EEV basis 21
Consolidated statement of recognised income and expense - EEV basis 22
Summarised reconciliation of movements in consolidated shareholders' equity - EEV basis 22
Summarised consolidated balance sheet - EEV basis 23
Segmentation of summarised consolidated balance sheet - EEV basis 24
Basis of preparation - EEV basis 25
Components of life EEV return 26
New business contribution 27
Geographical analysis of the components of life EEV operating return 29
Analysis of movement in life and related businesses embedded value 31
Segmental analysis of life and related businesses embedded value 32
Time value of options and guarantees 33
Analysis of service companies and fund management businesses within embedded value 33
Geographical analysis of fund management operating profit 34
Analysis of other operations and regional costs 34
Summary of minority interest in life and related businesses EEV results 35
Principal economic assumptions - deterministic calculations 36
Principal economic assumptions - stochastic calculations 37
Principal economic assumptions - other assumptions 38
Sensitivity analysis - economic assumptions 39
Sensitivity analysis - non-economic assumptions 41
IFRS basis 42
Summarised consolidated income statement - IFRS basis 43
Pro forma reconciliation of Group operating profit to profit before tax - IFRS basis 44
Earnings per share - IFRS basis 44
Consolidated statement of recognised income and expense - IFRS basis 45
Reconciliation of movements in consolidated shareholders' equity - IFRS basis 45
Summarised consolidated balance sheet - IFRS basis 46
Summarised consolidated cash flow statement - IFRS basis 46
Basis of preparation - IFRS basis 47
Exchange rates 48
Acquisitions 49
Profit on the disposal of subsidiaries and associates 52
Integration and restructuring costs 53
Operations classified as held for sale 53
Geographical analysis of long-term business IFRS operating profit 53
Geographical analysis of fund management operating profit 54
Geographical analysis of general insurance and health 54
Analysis of other operations' operating profit 57
Corporate costs 57
Group debt costs and other interest 58
Tax 58
Earnings per share 59
Dividends and appropriations 60
Segmental information 61
Pension schemes 68
Special bonus declared by UK Life business 70
Appendix A1 - Group capital structure 71
Appendix A2 - FRS 27 disclosures 79
Appendix B - Additional Report & Accounts disclosures 87
Appendix C - Additional Disclosures 95
Appendix D - Analysis of Asset disclosure 103
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Page 1
OPERATING AND FINANCIAL REVIEW
1. Group operating profit before tax
The Group delivered a robust operating profit before tax, including life EEV operating return at £3,286 million (2006
restated: £3,251 million) with strong results in the life segment offset by lower results in the general insurance
segment as a result of adverse effects from weather and an increase in competition in the current year. On an IFRS
basis, worldwide operating profit before tax decreased by 15% to £2,228 million (2006 restated: £2,609 million)due to
the impact of adverse weather.
EEV basis IFRS basis
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Restated* Restated*
2007 2006 2007 2006
£m £m £m £m
Life EEV operating return / IFRS long-term business profit 2,753 2,033 1,634 1,334
Fund management 90 96 155 155
General insurance and health 1,033 1,686 1,033 1,686
Other:
Non-insurance operations (70) (23) (74) (25)
Corporate Centre (157) (160) (157) (160)
Group debt costs and other interest (363) (381) (363) (381)
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Operating profit before tax 3,286 3,251 2,228 2,609
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Profit before tax attributable to shareholders' profits 2,937 4,165 1,842 2,977
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Equity shareholders' funds 20,253 17,531 12,849 11,176
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* 2006 comparative restated for the change in IFRS operating profit definition (impact on EEV for FSCS levies was
£6 million).
2. Long-term savings
Our worldwide long-term new business sales grew strongly in 2007, with total long-term savings new business sales up
25% to £38.6 billion (2006: £30.8 billion). The overall increase reflects growth in life and pension sales of 22% to
£31.6 billion (2006: £25.9 billion), and strong investment sales, up 41% to £7.0 billion (2006: £4.9 billion).
2007 Local currency growth
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Life and Retail Life and Retail
pensions investments Total pensions investments Total
Long-term savings sales £m £m £m % % %
United Kingdom 11,655 2,751 14,406 5% 12% 6%
Europe 14,914 1,572 16,486 15% 74% 19%
North America 3,602 - 3,602 343% - 343%
Asia Pacific 1,429 2,660 4,089 49% 67% 60%
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Total new business sales on a present
value of new business premium
(PVNBP) basis 31,600 6,983 38,583 22% 41% 25%
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United Kingdom
Our UK business had a strong 2007 despite tougher market conditions in the second half of the year. Total long-term
sales increased by 6% to £14,406 million (2006: £13,601 million) with improvements across all distribution channels.
Within this total, life and pensions new business sales grew by 5% to £11,655 million (2006: £11,146 million), with
strong growth in individual annuities and bond sales. Investment sales were up by 12% to £2,751 million (2006: £2,455
million) despite the decline in demand for UK commercial property funds in the second half of the year. Our share of
sales through the bancassurance partnership with the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBSG) was up by 36% to £1,587
million (2006: £1,169 million), and double the level of sales achieved in 2005. This performance was underpinned by
particularly strong sales of its bond and collective investments propositions and an increase in active sales advisers
to the 2007 target of 1,000. Our 2007 market share has declined to 10.6% (2006: 10.8% following restatement of sales b
y competitors). We retained our top-three position for each of our four key markets of annuities, savings, protection
and pensions.
Norwich Union continues to leverage its market leading brand, broad product range and strong multi-distribution
capability to deliver enhanced shareholder value. We've focused on improving our customers' experience, and at the same
time improved our efficiency. We've grown sales and improved brand value through joint advertising with Norwich Union
Insurance and continued to expand our distribution footprint. We've launched two simplified products through our
distribution partnership with the Post Office and recently announced the launch of our 'SIPP-lite product' to enhance
our pensions product range.
We remain committed to delivering improvements in efficiency and service levels, addressing complex legacy systems
and developing simpler customer propositions making us easy to do business with. In March 2007, we announced a
partnership with Swiss Re to outsource the administration of almost three million policies, enabling us to reduce our
550 product systems to 220. To support this we successfully transferred 1,000 employees to Swiss Re in October. Policy
migration is now underway with the first phase due for completion in March 2008, and all policies migrated by early
2009. This initiative combined with other simplification activity has already allowed us to decommission over 100
systems.
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Page 2
We are confident in our medium to long term outlook for market growth at between 5-10% per year, however given the
uncertainty over the performance of the UK economy, market growth in 2008 may be slightly lower than in 2007. The UK
is the fifth largest economy in the world, yet within this market there remain large numbers of people who either do
not save or who are under-protected. In 2008,our focus will remain on completing our simplification programme, driving
further operational efficiencies and building on service improvements. At the same time we will remain engaged with the
Government, FSA, ABI and other stakeholders on the Retail Distribution Review and National Pension Savings Scheme in
order to achieve an outcome that is satisfactory for customers, distributors and the industry as a whole.
Our scale, brand, broad product offering and strong distribution footprint position us well to succeed in an uncertain
2008. Our aim remains to improve profitability and grow our new business sales at least in line with the market, while
maintaining or increasing our overall new business margin from current levels.
Europe
Total sales in Aviva Europe increased 19% to £16,486 million (2006: £13,731 million). Within this, life and pension
sales grew 15% to £14,914 million (2006: £12,840 million), reflecting the success of our multi-distribution strategy,
broad product offerings and our diversified portfolio. Investment sales were up 74% to £1,572 million (2006:
£891 million) driven by strong inflows in the Netherlands and Poland.
In the Netherlands, Delta Lloyd's life and pension sales were up 25%, boosted by a £540 million group pension contract.
Overall life and pension sales in Ireland grew by 35% with growth in both the bancassurance and broker channels being
supported by new product developments and expansion of the fund range. In France, product innovation, including the
modernisation of the AFER product and successful marketing campaigns helped sales grow by 2% in a market which
declined overall in 2007 due to political and equity market uncertainty.
Life sales in Spain continued to show strong growth, up 15%, reflecting the highly successful launch of the tax
efficient PIAS(1) product and the efficient transfer of a portfolio of pension policies of £178 million into the new
joint venture with Cajamurcia of £178 million. In Italy, sales grew by 5%, contrasting with the Italian market which
declined during 2007**. This favourable performance was generated by additional marketing campaigns and the continued
development of relationships with our bank partners.
In Poland, strong sales growth of 53% resulted from the development of our distribution platform combined with a
strong equity market performance and the launch of umbrella funds at the end of 2006. Life and pension sales in our
other central and eastern European businesses increased by 39%, including strong sales of savings products in Hungary
and Turkey. In November the merger of Aviva Turkey's life and pensions business with AK Emeklilik was completed, which
will create a strong foundation for future growth.
North America
Sales in our US life business were up 39% on a pro forma*** basis to £3,602 million (2006: £884 million), representing
growth across all product lines. On a pro forma*** basis sales of annuities increased 47%, life sales grew by 9%
and funding agreement sales by 42%. Funding agreement sales, an integral core part of our product portfolio, are
large corporate transactions and consequently vary quarter on quarter.
We continue to be optimistic in our outlook for growth in 2008 and remain on track to double the size of our business
within three years of the acquisition of the former AmerUs Group which completed in late 2006.
Asia Pacific
Total long-term savings sales for the year increased by 60% to £4,089 million (2006: £2,546 million), including growth
of 49% in life and pension sales to £1,429 million (2006: £982 million). This was driven primarily by significantly
higher investment sales across the region through Navigator (our wrap administration platform).
In Australia, total sales grew by 46% following strategic investment in key independent financial adviser groups and
favourable changes to superannuation legislation. Within this total, life and pension sales increased 44% as a result
of a £64 million one-off transfer of group pension business, growth in protection business and a strongly performing
retail investment sector.
Sales for the rest of Asia Pacific continued to grow as a result of our expanding distribution and broadening
geographical presence. Sales in Singapore grew through our strong relationships with key brokers and those in Hong Kong
through the continued good performance of our partnership with the banking group DBS. In China we have increased our
presence in the country to eight provinces and are now ranked second among foreign insurers and in India, sales have
increased through bancassurance partnerships, ongoing expansion of the direct sales force and the addition of new
branches in the year.
During 2007 we added two new businesses to our portfolio. In July 2007 we entered the Malaysian market through the
acquisition of a 49% stake in two of CIMB Group's subsidiaries and entered into exclusive bancassurance agreements
with CIMB Bank. In December 2007 we received approval from Taiwan's regulator to set up our life insurance joint
venture, First Aviva, with First Financial Holdings Company (FFHC), in which we have a 49% shareholding. First Aviva
commenced operations on 2 January 2008.
* PIAS are newly introduced savings contracts with tax benefits if they are in force for ten years and if an annuity
is purchased at maturity.
** ANIA quotes market decline of 5.5%, based on new business single premium plus regular premiums, at the end of
November 2007 compared to the first 11 months of 2006.
*** Pro forma increases are based upon the combined sales for the former Aviva business based in Boston and the former
AmerUs Group for the 2006 year and are stated on a local currency rate basis.
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Page 3
More recently, in January 2008, we announced our intention to form a partnership with Woori Finance Holdings Company
Ltd to enter the South Korean life insurance market by acquiring a stake in LIG Insurance Co Ltd. This is expected to
take place in the first half of 2008 subject to regulatory approval.
We now have operations in nine Asia Pacific markets. Our businesses are at different stages of development and in
tandem with the economic outlook for Asia which predicts growth rates of between 4.1% in Taiwan to 8.6% in China for
the next five years, our outlook is very positive. We have the opportunity to actively grow our existing businesses in
the region, in particular in the high growth markets of India and China. At the same time, we are assessing the
potential of other markets in the region.
3. Life EEV operating return
2007 2006
£m £m
New business contribution (after the effect of required capital) 912 683
Profit from existing business - expected return 1,266 1,011
- experience variances (16) (50)
- operating assumption changes 114 44
Expected return on shareholders'net worth 477 345
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Life EEV operating return before tax 2,753 2,033
=======================================================================================================================
Analysed by:
United Kingdom 864 744
Europe 1,543 1,171
North America 255 32
Asia Pacific 91 86
Worldwide life EEV operating return before tax was 35% higher at £2,753 million (2006: £2,033 million) due to increased
contributions from both new and existing business. New business contribution after the effect of required capital was
33% higher at £912 million (2006: £683 million) with the group's new business margin after the effect of required
capital improving to 2.9% (2006: 2.6%).
2007 2006
£m £m
New business value post cost of capital 912 683
Persistency experience variances 5 (67)
Persistency assumption changes 3 (329)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Net flows after persistency 920 287
Other experience variances (21) 17
Other operating assumption changes 111 373
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Net flows after all operating experience and variances 1,010 677
=======================================================================================================================
After adjusting for small favourable persistency experience and assumptionchanges of £8 million (2006: adverse £396
million) we have generated strong net flows into our life and pensions book. Other adverse experience variances of
£21million (2006 favourable: £17 million) were offset by positive Other operating assumption changes of £111 million
(2006 favourable: £373 million).
The expected returns on existing business and shareholders' net worth increased to £1,743 million (2006: £1,356
million) reflecting the higher start of year embedded values and higher economic assumptions.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Present value
of new business New business New business New business New business
premiums contribution* margin*,** contribution*** margin**,***
--------------- -------------- ------------- --------------- ------------
2007 2006 2007 2006 2007 2006 2007 2006 2007 2006
£m £m £m £m % % £m £m % %
United Kingdom 11,655 11,146 360 327 3.1% 2.9% 305 263 2.6% 2.4%
France 3,662 3,552 169 153 4.6% 4.3% 117 110 3.2% 3.1%
Ireland 1,730 1,273 30 15 1.7% 1.2% 25 9 1.4% 0.7%
Italy 2,924 2,768 82 70 2.8% 2.5% 61 50 2.1% 1.8%
Netherlands(including
Belgium & Germany) 2,944 2,346 93 56 3.2% 2.4% 53 25 1.8% 1.1%
Poland 844 534 35 28 4.1% 5.2% 32 25 3.8% 4.7%
Spain 2,392 2,059 189 184 7.9% 8.9% 173 168 7.2% 8.2%
Other Europe^ 418 308 - (4) - (1.3)% (5) (6) (1.2)% (1.9)%
Europe 14,914 12,840 598 502 4.0% 3.9% 456 381 3.1% 3.0%
North America 3,602 884 154 20 4.3% 2.3% 108 8 3.0% 0.9%
Asia 990 685 36 26 3.6% 3.8% 27 22 2.7% 3.2%
Australia 439 297 26 17 5.9% 5.7% 16 9 3.6% 3.0%
Asia Pacific 1,429 982 62 43 4.3% 4.4% 43 31 3.0% 3.2%
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total life and
pensions business 31,600 25,852 1,174 892 3.7% 3.5% 912 683 2.9% 2.6%
=======================================================================================================================
* Before effect of required capital which amounted to £262 million (2006: £209 million).
** New business margin represents the ratio of new business contribution to present value of new business premiums,
expressed as a percentage.
*** After deducting the effect of required capital.
^ 'Other Europe' is made up of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Russia and Turkey.
United Kingdom
Norwich Union delivered record sales for the second year running, with life and pension sales up 5% to £11,655 million
(2006: £11,146 million). New business contribution rose 10% to £360 million (2006: £327 million), the result of
sales growth and an improvement in margin to 3.1% (2006: 2.9%). This was driven by a combination of the savings from
our ongoing efficiency review and our commitment to maximising shareholder value through balancing price, volume and
mix.
On a post cost of capital basis new business contribution was higher by 16% at £305 million (2006: £263 million) with a
margin of 2.6% (2006: 2.4%).
Life EEV operating return increased strongly by 16% to £864 million (2006: £744 million) benefiting from higher new
business profitability and operational improvements in the management of existing business resulting in lower costs and
improved retention. In 2006 we committed to cutting costs at the same time as improving service. We have successfully
completed the efficiency review announced in 2006 and have delivered the promised £125 million of annualised savings,
£108 million of which contributed to 2007 financial performance. A further £100 million annualised savings are targeted
by the end of 2009 which will eliminate our existing business expense overrun.
Improved customer retention has been driven through a wide programme of initiatives including the creation of a
dedicated advice team, improved customer communications and more active management of distributor commission terms.
Persistency experience has substantially improved to a loss of £5 million (2006: loss of £66 million). Our focus on
retention activity will continue in 2008; key components of this include the migration of individual pension policies
to a single, more modern administration platform, extending the functionality of this platform to offer additional
features such as wider investment fund choice, e-trading, income drawdown and providing a free upgrade to existing
personal pension customers wishing to access these features. The three-stage special bonus distribution to qualifying
with-profits policyholders announced earlier this year rewards customer loyalty and improves retention.
As announced in October, we have reviewed our annuitant mortality assumptions, in particular those relating to future
rates of mortality improvements. This review and research into projection methodologies has resulted in the
strengthening of our best-estimate annuitant longevity assumption by increasing the minimum mortality improvement
factors, bringing these into line with CMI Working Paper 27. The effect of this change is to reduce profit by £153
million. Alongside this change, we have reduced the required capital for the UK annuity business from 150% to 100% of
required minimum margin, bringing it into line with the economic capital requirement for this business. This improves
new and existing business profits by £14 million and £132 million respectively. The combined impact of these changes
was broadly neutral.
Over the last four years we have exploited our scale by raising approximately £1 billion of reinsurance financing,
including a £320 million financial reinsurance transaction in 2007, improving the returns for shareholders through the
use of leveraged capital. We recently completed a capital transaction which transferred to Swiss Re an economic
interest in part of the UK Life policy book to be administered by them under the outsourcing agreement made earlier in
2007. This transaction will come into effect as this business migrates to Swiss Re over 2008 and 2009. The transaction
size is predicted to be £281 million, plus future profit commission. The transfer has the effect of improving the
return on embedded value of the UK Life business by between 40 and 50 basis points. With-profit policies and a small
non-profit book are excluded from this capital transaction.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 5
Europe
New business contribution before the effect of required capital was £598 million (2006: £502 million). This reflected
continued growth across the region, with volumes growing strongly in the Netherlands, Ireland, Spain, Poland and Italy.
New business margins before and after required capital were 4.0% and 3.1% respectively (2006: 3.9% and 3.0%),
reflecting increased margins in the Netherlands, where interest rate development was favourable, and improved
profitability in Ireland, France and Italy.
Life EEV operating return from our continental European businesses was £1,543 million (2006: £1,171 million). New
business contribution after the effect of required capital was £456 million (2006: £381 million), mainly reflecting
increased contributions from the Netherlands, Italy and Ireland. Expected returns rose to £899 million (2006:
£715 million) resulting from the higher start of year embedded value. Favourable experience variances added £49 million
(2006: £91 million) to the Aviva Europe result, due to strong favourable variances in France and Poland while operating
assumption changes from the same countries further boosted the Aviva Europe performance by £139 million (2006:
£16 million negative), again reflecting the strong profitability arising from existing business in France and Poland.
France: Sales grew by 2% to £3,662 million (2006: £3,552 million) in a market which declined overall in 2007* due to
political and fiscal uncertainty in the first half of the year and equity market turbulence in the second half. This
strong sales performance, combined with a continued focus on profitability, resulted in a higher new business
contribution of £169 million (2006: £153 million), with an increased margin of 4.6% (2006: 4.3%). The operating profit
on an EEV basis of £537 million (2006: £402 million) was boosted by the increased proportion of unit-linked assets
within managed funds, efficiency gains, product development and continued positive experience variances on lapses and
mortality.
The Netherlands: Delta Lloyd's life and pension sales have grown by 25% to £2,944 million (2006: £2,346 million),
driven by group pension scheme sales. New business contribution increased by 66% to £93 million (2006: £56 million),
reflecting the sales growth and a higher margin of 3.2% (2006: 2.4%). The increase in new business profitability
follows an increase in interest rates, in a market where competition and pricing remain fierce. Operating profit rose
to £352 million(2006: £329 million), with the strong gains on new business profitability and increased expected returns
on the in-force business being partially offset by allowances for worsening annuitant mortality.
Ireland: Overall life and pension sales increased strongly by 35% to £1,730 million (2006: £1,273 million). New
business profitability has grown strongly, with new business contribution doubling to £30 million (2006: £15 million).
This has been driven by strong volume growth, an increased focus on higher margin funds and product development
initiatives. Over 2007, new business margin increased to 1.7% (2006: 1.2%). The operating return in 2007 increased to
£77 million (2006: £40 million loss). The loss reported in 2006 reflected an exceptional level of adverse operating
assumption changes.
Italy: Total sales grew by 5% to £2,924 million (2006: £2,768 million), contrasting with the Italian market which
declined by more than 5% during 2007**. New business profitability increased in 2007, with new business margin
rising to 2.8% (2006: 2.5%). Growth in margin reflects an increased emphasis on higher margin products, including
stronger sales of unit-linked contracts. The growth in volumes, together with the change in product mix, contributed to
an overall new business contribution of £82 million (2006: £70 million). The operating return increased in line with
the growth in new business contribution and in-force book, up 23% to £137 million (2006: £110 million).
Spain: Life sales continued to show strong growth, up 15% to £2,392 million(2006: £2,059 million) despite sales of risk
products being affected by the slow down in the Spanish mortgage market.Increased sales of savings products
successfully offset reduced new business contribution from mortgage related protection products and led to an overall
growth in new business contribution to £189 million (2006: £184 million). This was achieved in increasingly difficult
trading conditions. Overall, the growth in new business contribution, together with returns on the in-force book of
business, contributed to a 7% increase in operating return to £239 million (2006: £221 million). The reduced new
business margin of 7.9% (2006: 8.9%) reflects the change in business mix.
Poland: Life and pension sales have grown by 53% to £844 million (2006: £534 million). The strong growth in volumes,
with increased focus on sales through our bank partners, led to an overall new business contribution of £35 million
(2006: £28 million). Changes to the product and distribution mix led to a fall in the new business margin to 4.1%
(2006: 5.2%). The operating return increased substantially to £206 million (2006: £162 million), with favourable lapse
and mortality experience boosting the profitability of the in-force book.
Other Europe: The strong momentum in sales, increasing 39% to £418 million (2006: £308 million), helped generate a
breakeven new business contribution (2006: £4 million negative). The creation of AvivaSA transformed the scale of
the business in Turkey and supported the strong sales growth. Overall, the operating loss for Other Europe was lower
at £5 million (2006: £13 million loss), reflecting the continued growth and development of these businesses.
North America
The life EEV operating return was £255 million (2006: £32 million) reflecting increased new business contribution and
higher expected returns following the acquisition of AmerUs.
New business margins before and after the effect of required capital increased to 4.3% and 3.0% respectively (2006:
2.3% and 0.9% respectively) reflecting a favourable change in product mix towards higher margin indexed life and
indexed annuity products and the discontinuance of lower margin life products as part of a product rationalisation
process.
* In GWP terms, the FFSA states that the French market for life individual products has declined 4% in 2007 compared
to the 12 months of 2006.
** ANIA quotes market decline of 5.5%, based on new business single premium plus regular premiums, at the end of
November 2007 compared to the first 11 months of 2006.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 6
Asia Pacific
The life EEV operating return increased to £91 million (2006: £86 million), benefiting from higher new business volumes
New business margins before and after the effect of required capital were 4.3% and 3.0% respectively (2006: 4.4% and
3.2% respectively). New business margins were influenced by the scale and timing of marketing campaigns and product
launches, resulting in some volatility between quarters. Growth potential for the region remains strong and Aviva's
diversified distribution model places the business in a strong position for continued future growth.
4. Bancassurance margins - before required capital, tax and minority interests
The weighted average bancassurance new business margin for our principal bancassurance partners, before the effect of
required capital, was 4.8% (2006: 4.8%). This mainly reflects increases in the UK, France and Asia being offset by a
reduced margin in Spain and the Netherlands. After the effect of required capital, the bancassurance margin was 4.0%
(2006: 4.0%).
Bancassurance
life and pensions Present value of new New business New business
business premiums contribution* margin**
--------------------- ------------- -------------
2007 2006 2007 2006 2007 2006
£m £m £m £m % %
United Kingdom 1,145 991 54 38 4.7% 3.8%
France 778 838 36 36 4.6% 4.3%
Ireland 864 589 14 9 1.6% 1.5%
Italy 2,754 2,695 77 68 2.8% 2.5%
Netherlands 359 425 13 18 3.6% 4.2%
Spain 2,171 1,832 188 180 8.7% 9.8%
Europe 6,926 6,379 328 311 4.7% 4.9%
Asia Pacific 210 367 15 20 7.1% 5.4%
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Principal bancassurance channels 8,281 7,737 397 369 4.8% 4.8%
=======================================================================================================================
* Before effect of required capital which amounted to £74 million (2006: £56 million).
** New business margin represents the ratio of new business contribution to present value of new business premiums,
expressed as a percentage.
United Kingdom
New business margin from Norwich Union's bancassurance partnership with RBSG improved to 4.7% (2006: 3.8%) reflecting
economies of scale from higher volumes and a more profitable product mix.
Europe
In France, the new business margin of our bancassurance joint venture was 4.6% (2006: 4.3%). In Ireland, new business
margin has increased to 1.6% (2006: 1.5%) while sales through our partnership with AIB increased by 46%. The new
business bancassurance margin in Italy increased to 2.8% (2006: 2.5%), reflecting a change in business mix. In Spain,
our bancassurance partnerships produced a new business margin of 8.7% (2006: 9.8%), reflecting higher sales of savings
products and lower sales of protection products linked to mortgages. Our bancassurance agreement with ABN AMRO in the
Netherlands generated a margin of 3.6% (2006: 4.2%) again reflecting a change in business mix and tighter product
margins.
Asia Pacific
The new business bancassurance margin from our partnership with DBS in Singapore and Hong Kong remained high,
increasing to 7.1% (2006: 5.4%) reflecting the profitable growth of these developing operations.
5. New business contribution - after deducting required capital, tax and minority interest
New business contribution after required capital, tax and minority interest increased by 41% to £529 million (2006:
£376 million) with a resultant new business margin of 1.9% (2006: 1.7%).
Present value of new New business New business
business premiums* contribution** margin***
==================== ============== =============
2007 2006 2007 2006 2007 2006
£m £m £m £m % %
Principal bancassurance channels 4,730 4,465 133 121 2.8% 2.7%
Other distribution channels 22,674 17,607 396 255 1.7% 1.4%
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total life and pensions business 27,404 22,072 529 376 1.9% 1.7%
=======================================================================================================================
Analysed by:
United Kingdom 11,655 11,146 214 185 1.8% 1.7%
Europe 10,726 9,067 213 162 2.0% 1.8%
North America 3,602 884 70 5 1.9% 0.6%
Asia Pacific 1,421 975 32 24 2.3% 2.5%
* Stated after deducting the minority interest.
** Stated after deducting the effect of required capital, tax and minority interest.
*** New business margin represents the ratio of new business contribution to present value of new business premiums,
expressed as a percentage.
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Page 7
6. Long-term business operating profit on an International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) basis
On an IFRS basis, our long-term business operating profit before shareholder tax was £1,634 million (2006 restated:
£1,334 million), an increase of 21%.
United Kingdom
On an IFRS basis, life operating profit increased by 15% to £723 million (2006 restated: £629 million), due to lower
expenses, higher income from unit-linked business and lower new business strain. The result included £167 million
(2006: £149 million) benefit arriving from phased adoption of reserving changes introduced by PS06/14. The review of UK
annuitant mortality assumptions has had a broadly neutral effect on the IFRS reported figures.
Europe
In Europe, life IFRS operating profit increased to £777 million (2006 restated: £648 million), driven primarily by
increased profits in France, the Netherlands and Ireland. In France, the operating profit was higher at £243 million
(2006 restated: £224 million) reflecting increased expected returns due to higher interest rates and a larger
investment portfolio. In the Netherlands, operating profit on an IFRS basis was £181 million (2006 restated: £102
million) reflecting increased expected returns due to higher interest rates and more favourable mortality and other
technical reserve movements. In Ireland, operating profit increased to £73 million (2006 restated: £49 million)
reflecting strong business growth and improved operating performance.
North America
Life operating profit was £103 million (2006 restated: £13 million) driven primarily by the inclusion of the AmerUs
business.
Asia Pacific
Life operating profit reduced in 2007 to £31 million (2006 restated: £44 million), reflecting the impact of new
business strain in the developing Asian businesses.
7. Fund management operating profit
Our worldwide fund management operating profit remained stable at £155 million (2006: £155 million) on an IFRS basis.
Funds under management by Aviva at 31 December 2007 grew to £316 billion (31 December 2006: £287 billion) reflecting
the impact of new business and the performance of global investment markets.
2007 2006
£m £m
Morley 87 76
Other UK (10) (6)
United Kingdom 77 70
France 33 33
Netherlands 23 37
Other Europe 4 3
Europe 60 73
North America 3 3
Asia Pacific 15 9
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fund management operating profit - IFRS basis 155 155
=======================================================================================================================
On an EEV basis, the total operating profit from our fund management businesses was £90 million (2006: £96 million)
and represents the profit from those funds managed on behalf of third parties and the group's non-life businesses.
United Kingdom
Our UK fund management businesses comprise our institutional business, Morley, our retail investment business trading
as Norwich Union, and our collective investment joint venture business with RBSG. These businesses reported an
operating profit of £77 million (2006: £70 million) in the period.
Morley
IFRS fund management operating profit grew significantly to £87 million (2006: £76 million) reflecting increased
investment management fee revenue resulting from business wins and investment market performance, continued cost
control and focused investment in the business. In total the Morley group contributed operating profit of £91 million
(2006: £79 million) to the group's results, including a £4 million contribution (2006: £3 million) from the pooled
pensions business which is reported within long-term business segment.
Closing funds under management declined slightly to £165 billion (2006: £166 billion), impacted by the fall in UK
property capital values.
Global equity markets returned 9.5% in sterling terms in 2007, a year that was divided into two distinct periods.
Against a backdrop of solid corporate performance, share buy-backs and significant M&A activity, several indices
approached or exceeded all time highs during the first half of the year. However, during the second half, problems in
the US sub-prime mortgage market and subsequent global impacts (lack of credit availability and increased cost of
credit, banking sector write-downs and mounting concerns of a US recession) drove investors to restructure their
portfolios away from equities and resulted in market falls. Commercial property was similarly affected and posted
market returns of (5.5)% for the year, the first negative year since 1992. Property company shares were also
significantly impacted, falling by 35% during the year.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 8
In common with the industry in general, the subsequent change in consumer sentiment resulted in negative cash flows in
the second half of the year in respect of UK retail property funds.
Gross sales through Morley distribution channels remained strong and were achieved across a variety of asset classes
and products. Average margins achieved on new business increased, in line with our strategy of targeting higher margin
Alternatives and specialist multi-asset mandates.
Operating losses from Norwich Union's retail investment business amounted to £10 million (2006: £6 million loss) where
increased sales through the company's collectives investment business resulted in higher upfront costs.
Europe
In France, operating profit from Aviva Gestion d'Actifs (AGA) was stable at £33 million (2006: £33 million). AGA
continued to demonstrate its expertise with 89% of managed funds ranked in the top half for returns over five years and
for the fourth consecutive year Aviva's multi-fund life policies received a Gold Award at the 2007 Life Insurance
Trophies held by the leading financial weekly LeRevenu.
Operating profit from our fund management business in the Netherlands was £23 million (2006: £37 million), reflecting
lower performance related fees following the exceptional level earned in 2006. The current year result includes
£2 million in respect of Cyrte Investments since its acquisition at the end of September 2007.
Asia Pacific
In Asia Pacific, our fund management and administration business consists of the successful Navigator platforms in
Australia and Singapore. Operating profits improved to £15 million (2006: £9 million), reflecting the strong
distribution relationships with key brokers and favourable changes to superannuation legislation in Australia.
8. General insurance and health operating profit
The Group's net written premiums from its worldwide general insurance and health businesses decreased by 1% to
£10.6 billion (2006: £10.7 billion), reflecting increasing price competition across most regions.
Group operating profit from general insurance and health businesses decreased by 39% to £1,033 million (2006: £1,686
million). The worldwide general insurance combined operating ratio (COR) worsened to 100% (2006: 94%) mainly as a
result of adverse weather in the UK and increased competitive pressures in this business segment across most regions.
Excluding the impact of this exceptional adverse weather in the UK the group COR would have been 95%.
The general insurance and health underwriting profit decreased to £4 million (2006: £613 million) following worse than
expected weather claims experience in the UK of £475 million (2006: £75 million benefit). The worldwide GI expense
ratio was 13.9% (2006: 13.7%), reflecting reduced premiums and ongoing investment made to secure the future
profitability of the business.
The longer-term investment return (LTIR) on general insurance and health business assets was £1,029 million (2006:
£1,073 million) as the impact of the higher start-of-year asset base and higher LTIR rates in 2007 were offset by the
effect of actions taken during the second half of 2007 to reduce the level of investments held in equities. The
proceeds of the equity sales were reinvested in lower risk assets which generate a lower level of longer term return.
The reserves in the Group are set conservatively with the aim to protect against adverse future claims experience and
development. Our business is predominantly short tail in nature and loss development experience is generally favourable.
As a result of the conservatism applied in setting the reserves, there are releases of £832 million (net of
reinsurance)for our general insurance business and £137 million for our health operations in 2007 which reflect
releases from the 2006 accident year and prior. We continue to apply our reserving policy consistently and our
reserves remain at very strong levels. Further description of loss development is given on page 89.
Net written premiums Underwriting result Operating profit
-------------------- -------------------- ----------------
Restated Restated
2007 2006 2007 2006 2007 2006
£m £m £m £m £m £m
United Kingdom 5,896 6,000 (214) 394 433 1,118
Europe 3,233 3,287 197 189 442 417
North America 1,412 1,389 18 27 154 148
Asia Pacific 28 26 3 3 4 3
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Continuing operations 10,569 10,702 4 613 1,033 1,686
======================================================================================================================
United Kingdom
Total operating profit of £433 million (2006: £1,118 million) includes a contribution of £53 million (2006: £37 million)
from our captive reinsurance operations and health business. NU Healthcare is a leading UK health insurer providing
medical insurance (PMI) and income protection to over 800,000 customers. The remaining commentary relates to Norwich
Union Insurance, our UK GI business only.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 9
2007 was a tough year for our general insurance business in the UK as we experienced a combination of higher weather
claims and competitive conditions in most lines of business. We took action to deal with this as early as 2006 by
increasing motor rates and we have taken further rating action in homeowners and across all commercial lines. In
addition we have embarked on a transformational programme for our UK GI business which will see our expense ratio drop
from 13.9% to 12.4% in 2008. In light of this, we are confident that the outlook is positive and that we will continue
to 'meet or beat' our 98% COR target while maintaining our strong balance sheet to back this business.
We have reviewed our reinsurance programme protecting our UK GI business and put in place additional protection via an
aggregate cover to protect us against multiple weather events like those experienced in 2007. If this additional cover
had been in place in 2007 our weather related losses would have been reduced by £100 million. In addition, as part of
the renewal of our main catastrophe programme, we anticipate reducing our net retention. This programme renews on
1 April.
The tough market conditions are reflected in net written premiums for Norwich Union Insurance which have fallen by 3%
to £5,440 million (2006: £5,583 million) and have also contributed to the decrease in operating profit from its record
level of £1,081 million in 2006 to £380 million in 2007. However, the weather had the most significant impact on 2007
results, with the summer flooding and storms in January 2007 adversely affecting profit by £475 million (2006:£75
million benefit). We continue to prudently manage our reserves to avoid future adverse claims experience. Our 2007
operating profit benefited from £430 million (2006: £385 million)in respect of prior years. Of this total, £215 million
is non-recurring in nature (2006: £220 million). Our combined operating ratio rose to 106% (2006: 95%) - excluding the
adverse weather, the ratio would have been 97%.
The cost and efficiency programme announced in September 2006 will deliver its anticipated benefits of £125 million
from 2008. Despite the benefits accruing from this programme in 2007, our expense ratio of 13.9% is in line with the
2006 ratio, reflecting the pressure on business volumes and that overall rating has been behind cost inflation. We are
committed to operational efficiency and in October we announced a programme to leverage the investments we have made
in the business to deliver further cost savings. The programme will be introduced in three phases. Phase one is already
in progress and is set to deliver £200 million of annualised savings by the end of 2008. The remaining phases will
concentrate on simplifying our structure (a process that is already well underway) and re-engineering service and
processing centres designed to deliver additional benefits in 2009 and beyond.
In our core insurance markets, we have continued to use our leading position to provide rating leadership in the
currently very competitive marketplace. In personal motor, following the correction in the second half of 2006, rating
has been broadly in line with claims inflation at 6% (2006: average increase of 5%), which has helped contribute to an
improved combined operating ratio in this business line of 102% (2006: 104%). In August we announced average rating
increases of 10% on household buildings and contents policies following almost a decade of flat rates in the market.
This has contributed to an overall homeowner rate increase of 7% in the year (2006: 3%).
In commercial lines, during the last quarter of 2007 we targeted increases for smaller risks and underperforming
segments, after experiencing four years of market rate reductions across the board. These increases averaged 3.5% and
commenced in November 2007, although rates still decreased by 2% across all commercial lines in 2007 (2006: 3%
reduction). The combined operating ratio for commercial property business was 124% (2006: 79%) reflecting the adverse
weather, higher than usual large claims experience and a number of environmental factors that have contributed to the
deterioration in performance.
Generally, the market is showing some sign of hardening. In private motor there is now a clear upward trend particularly
within the broker channel and we expect this to continue in 2008. There are signs that household is beginning to move
too, as insurers react to several years of flat rates and the summer floods. In commercial lines, most large insurers
are applying modest rate increases and this too is expected to continue in 2008. In both the personal and
commercial markets there are still elements of severe price competition but the overall direction is upwards.
Supporting our customers when they need us most and to provide them with peace of mind is vital and the action we took
during the summer floods is a clear example of the importance we place on providing excellent customer service. In
response to these events we ensured a network of loss adjusters, contractors and claims teams were on site at the time
(including our mobile advice centre manned by claims and repair specialists) and call centre staff numbers were doubled
to deal with the extra calls we received.
Our commitment to customer service has also been recognised by a number of achievements in 2007. NUI has been voted
General Insurer of the Year at the Insurance Times Awards for the fifth successive year, demonstrating the confidence
and trust that independent brokers have in NUI. We were also voted General Insurer of the Year at the Personal Finance
& Savings Readership Awards. NU Direct's Retention team won Customer Service Team of the Year at the National
Customer Service Awards. RAC has been rated as number one for motorists in the annual JD Power survey for the second
consecutive year and was also named as Breakdown and Recovery Company 2007 by the Institute of Transport Management
recognising the efficient and reliable service offered.
Europe
In Europe, our general insurance and health businesses recorded an operating profit of £442 million (2006: £417
million).
In France, our general insurance and health business reported an operating profit of £70 million (2006: £63 million)
with an underwriting profit of £11 million (2006: £6 million). The underwriting result benefited from our strong
control of costs and favourable claims experience, with the general insurance COR stable at 99% (2006: 99%). Net
written premiums were stable at £733 million (2006: £735 million), reflecting moderate general insurance premium rate
increases offset by the loss of a group health contract.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 10
In Ireland, our market leading general insurance business reported operating profit of £162 million (2006: £172
million). The underwriting profit decreased to £101 million (2006: £121 million) and the COR deteriorated to 80% (2006:
77%)reflecting intensifying competition and higher claims costs. While policy count increased, falling premium rates
meant that net written premiums reduced to £474 million (2006: £519 million). The business has continued to focus on
growing sales through the emerging internet channel and has successfully grown sales through both the Hibernian and AIB
websites. A number of new initiatives were launched in 2007, building on the life and pensions partnership and
consolidating Hibernian's position as distribution leaders.
In the Netherlands, operating profit from general insurance and health was £169 million (2006: £139 million). The
general insurance COR improved to 85% (2006: 89%), following favourable development of prior year claims and the
maintenance of premium rates in key areas. General insurance premiums increased to £788 million (2006: £733 million)
following the inclusion of Erasmus since its acquisition in March 2007. The health underwriting result deteriorated to
a loss of £45 million (2006: £33 million loss) as a result of higher claims costs, net of recoveries from the central
health fund and reorganisation costs. Health premiums were 10% lower at £929 million (2006: £1,022 million) reflecting
differences in the timing and size of receipts from the central risk equalisation fund.
Other general insurance operations are based in Italy, Poland and Turkey and achieved net written premium of £309
million (2006: £278 million) and an operating profit of £41 million (2006: £43 million). In Italy, following the merger
of the Banca Popolare Italiana Group network with Banco Popolare di Verona e Novara SCRL (BPVN), our business has
agreed an exclusive long-term distribution agreement with the newly formed bank, Banco Popolare, to sell Aviva's credit
protection and non-life products through its network of circa 2,200 branches. Distribution through the new agreement
has already commenced in 2008 and will create a strong basis for future growth. Towards the end of 2007, our business
in Poland launched a direct motor product. We are excited about the potential of the direct insurance market in Poland
and hope for further success in the development of other direct business across Europe.
North America
In Canada, operating profit was £154 million (2006: £148 million), an underlying increase of 7% in local currency terms.
This result reflects an increase in investment return from higher fixed income yields and higher average asset balances
partly offset by a reduction in the underwriting result to £18 million (2006: £27 million). COR remained stable at 98%
(2006: 98%).
Net written premiums were £1,412 million (2006: £1,389 million). This represents an underlying 4% increase in local
currency driven by growth in both personal and commercial lines volumes, particularly in property through increased
warranty business. This growth was partly offset by reductions in motor premiums resulting from increased competition.
In the face of this, Aviva Canada continues to take an industry leading stance, achieving growth without compromising
on profitability.
Asia Pacific
The operating profit from our health insurance business in Singapore and general insurance business in Sri Lanka
amounted to £4 million (2006: £3 million).
9. Other operations and regional costs
The Group's other operations recorded an operating loss of £74 million (2006 restated: loss of £25 million) on an IFRS
basis. This reflected lower results in the United Kingdom and costs relating to the establishment of new regional
offices.
Restated
2007 2006
£m £m
United Kingdom (8) 36
Europe (49) (55)
North America (4) -
Asia Pacific (13) (6)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total (74) (25)
=======================================================================================================================
United Kingdom
UK non-insurance operations reported an operating loss of £8 million (2006: £36 million profit) due to lower results
from RAC non-insurance which included a contribution of £17 million in 2006 from disposed operations (Manufacturing
Support Services and Lex Vehicle Leasing), and investment in the businesses of AutoWindscreens, BSM and HPI. Having
completed the investment in transforming these businesses, we are looking to leverage maximum benefit from these
operations. Continuing investment in the Lifetime business was £31 million (2006: £29 million).
Following the restatement of IFRS operating profit, NU Life Services covered business is now reported within the life
result and comparatives have been adjusted.
Europe
The improvement in the loss to £49 million (2006: £55 million) reflects lower pension and interest charges, partially
offset by the inclusion of new regional costs. In the Netherlands one-off items offset lower banking profits.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 11
North America
The loss of £4 million (2006: nil) reflects the inclusion of new regional costs and the results of our other non-
insurance businesses.
Asia Pacific
The loss of £13 million (2006: £6 million) reflects corporate brand expenditure and new regional costs.
On an EEV basis, our other operations reported a loss of £70 million (2006: £23 million loss) due to the reallocation
of certain European costs to the life EEV operating return.
10. Corporate centre
Corporate costs for the year were £157 million (2006: £160 million). Within this, costs relating to staff profit share
and incentive plans were £17 million (2006: £17 million). Central spend decreased to £114 million (2006: £126 million),
reflecting the drive towards a leaner activist centre. Project costs increased to £26 million (2006: £17 million) as we
continue to invest in our brand and global finance strategy.
11. Group debt costs and other interest
Group debt costs and other interest of £363 million (2006: £381 million) comprise internal and external interest on
borrowings, subordinated debt and intra-group loans not allocated to local business operations. Net pension income is
also included, being the expected return on pension scheme assets less the interest charge on pension scheme
liabilities. Net income from the staff pension scheme fell to £75 million (2006: £77 million).
Interest costs in the period were lower at £438 million (2006: £458 million) reflecting a reduction in internal
interest following the restructuring of internal loan agreements. This was offset by an increase in the interest on
subordinated debt due to amounts raised in December 2006 to repay locally held AmerUs debt and on commercial paper
raised to help fund the AmerUs acquisition.
Interest on the £990 million direct capital instrument issued in 2004 is not included within group debt costs as it is
instead treated as an appropriation of profits retained in the period.
12. Profit on ordinary activities before tax
EEV basis IFRS basis
-------------- ---------------
2007 2006 2007 2006
£m £m £m £m
Operating profit before tax 3,286 3,251 2,228 2,609
Investment return variances and economic assumption changes on
long-term business 67 990 15 401
Short-term fluctuation in return on investments backing general
insurance and health business (184) 149 (184) 149
Impairment of goodwill (10) (94) (10) (94)
Amortisation and impairment of intangibles (89) (46) (103) (64)
Profit on the disposal of subsidiaries and associates 20 161 49 222
Integration and restructuring costs (153) (246) (153) (246)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Profit before tax/ Profit before tax attributable to shareholders'
profits 2,937 4,165 1,842 2,977
=======================================================================================================================
Profit before tax on an EEV basis was lower at £2,937 million (2006: £4,165 million), and includes investment variance
and economic assumption changes of £67 million (2006: £990 million) which reflects the positive impact of £175 million
due to the reduction in the UK corporate tax rate to 28% partly offset by the adverse impacts of worse than assumed
equity returns and interest rate movements in the year.
The IFRS long-term business favourable investment variance (reflecting our new IFRS operating profit definition)of £15
million (2006: £401 million) comprises of favourable investment variances in Europe offset by negative effects in the
USA and UK. In Europe, the positive variances relate mainly to the realisation of capital gains on securities in the
Netherlands and France. In the USA, realised and unrealised losses on investments were driven by the widening of credit
spreads on debt securities, while in the UK there was a negative investment variance on surplus assets backing annuity
business due to interest rate changes.
The negative short-term fluctuation in return on investments backing general insurance and health business of £184
million (2006: £149 million positive) is due to lower market returns compared to our longer-term investment return
assumptions. The Group reduced their exposure to equities through an active sell off of their equity book in the
second half of the year. The effect of the non-life investment market movements and integration costs are included in
the IFRS profit before tax attributable to shareholders' profits of £1,842 million (2006: £2,977 million).
Profit on disposal of subsidiaries and associates includes the sale of 50.3% of the Turkish life business as part of
the joint venture agreement with Aksigorta A.S.. This produced a profit of £74 million on an IFRS basis (£45 million on
an EEV basis due to the additional value of long-term inforce business). This was partly offset by losses on a number
of small disposals.
£153 million of integration and restructuring costs have been included in the results to 31 December
2007 (2006: £246 million). These include £45 million relating to the UK cost and efficiency programme announced back in
2006. This initiative has now been completed at a total cost of £250 million. The costs also include £82 million
relating to the new savings targets announced in October 2007; further costs of this programme are expected to be £248
million spread over the next two years. The balance of £26 million relates to the completion of integration activity on
Ark Life in Ireland and the former AmerUs business in the United States, which were both acquired in 2006.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 12
13. Taxation
The taxation charge for the year was £803 million (2006: £1,286 million) on an EEV basis and includes a charge of
£992 million (2006: £1,028 million) in respect of operating profit, which is equivalent to an effective rate of 30.2%
(2006: 31.6%) mainly reflecting the impact of one-off tax credits due to changes in future UK tax rates and the release
of provisions. The effective tax rate on IFRS operating profit is 27.2% (2006: 24.7%).
14. Earnings per share
Our IFRS earnings per share for 2007 was 49.2 pence (2006: 87.5 pence). This reflects the reduction in operating
profit, mainly due to lower results in the general insurance segment as a result of adverse weather and increased
competition, and net adverse short-term fluctuations and economic assumption changes.
15. Dividends
Ordinary dividends
The Board has recommended a final dividend increase of 10% to 21.10 pence net per share (2006: 19.18 pence) payable on
16 May 2008 to shareholders on the register on 28 March 2008. This provides growth of 10% in the total dividend for
the year of 33.00 pence (2006: 30.00 pence). Our IFRS post-tax operating profits cover this dividend 1.60 times
(2006 restated: 2.26 times), in line with our dividend cover target of 1.5 - 2.0 times.
Preference dividends
8 3/8 % cumulative irredeemable preference shares of £1 each
On 18 January 2008 a dividend of 4 3/16 % per share for the six month period ending 31 March 2008 was announced. This
dividend is payable on 31 March 2008 to preference shareholders that were on the register on 8 February 2008.
8 3/4% cumulative irredeemable preference shares of £1 each
The Board has recommended a dividend of 4 3/8 % per share for the six month period ending 30 June 2008 payable on
30 June 2008 to preference shareholders on the register on 9 May 2008.
16. Pension fund deficit
At 31 December 2007, the Group's overall pension fund deficit less surpluses had reduced by £795 million to £178
million (gross of tax). This was mainly due to the favourable impact on the valuation of liabilities of a 40 basis
point increase in the UK real discount rate (the difference between the discount and inflation rate) during the year.
In March 2006 we announced additional funding of £700 million. The final payment of £320 million will be made in March
2008.
17. Return on equity shareholders' funds
The group's post-tax operating return on equity shareholders' funds was 11.3% (2006: 13.1%). This was lower than last
year due to opening shareholders' funds being £2.6 billion higher. The return is below our target of 12.5% due to the
impact of the adverse weather in the UK which has suppressed the return in the general insurance operations.
18. Capital
Capital management objectives
Aviva's capital management philosophy is focussed on capital efficiency and effective risk management to support a
progressive dividend policy and EPS growth. Rigorous capital allocation is one of the Group's primary strategic
priorities and is ultimately governed by the Group Executive Committee.
The Group's overall capital risk appetite is set and managed with reference to the requirements of a range of different
stakeholders including shareholders, policyholders, regulators and rating agencies. In managing capital we seek to:
- maintain sufficient, but not excessive, financial strength to support new business growth and satisfy the
requirements of our stakeholders;
- optimise our overall debt to equity structure to enhance our returns to shareholders, subject to our capital risk
appetite and balancing the requirements of the range of stakeholders;
- retain financial flexibility by maintaining strong liquidity, including significant unutilised committed credit lines
and access to a range of capital markets;
- allocate capital rigorously across the Group, to drive value adding growth in accordance with risk appetite;
- increase the dividend on a basis judged prudent, while retaining capital to support future business growth, using
dividend cover on an IFRS operating earnings after tax basis in the 1.5 to 2.0 times range as a guide.
Capital resources
The primary sources of capital used by the Group are equity shareholders' funds, preference shares, subordinated debt
and borrowings. We also consider and, where efficient to do so, utilise alternative sources of capital such as
reinsurance and securitisation in addition to the more traditional sources of funding. Targets are established in
relation to regulatory solvency, ratings, liquidity and dividend capacity and are a key tool in managing capital in
accordance with our risk appetite and the requirements of our various stakeholders.
Overall, the Group has significant resources and financial strength. The ratings of the Group's main operating
subsidiaries are AA/AA- ('very strong') with a stable outlook from Standard & Poor's, Aa3 ('excellent') with a stable
outlook from Moody's and A+ ('Superior') with a stable outlook from AM Best. These ratings reflect the Group's strong
liquidity, competitive position, capital base, increasing underlying earnings and strategic and operational management.
The Group is subject to a number of regulatory capital tests and also employs economic capital measures to manage
capital and risk.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 13
Capital allocation
Capital allocation is undertaken based on a rigorous analysis of a range of financial, strategic, risk and capital
factors to ensure that capital is allocated efficiently to value adding business opportunities. A clear management
decision making framework, incorporating ongoing operational and strategic performance review, periodic longer term
strategic and financial planning and robust due diligence over capital allocation is in place, governed by the Group
Executive Committee and Group Capital Management Committee. These processes incorporate various capital profitability
metrics, including an assessment of return on capital employed and internal rates of return in relation to hurdle rates
to ensure capital is allocated efficiently and that excess business unit capital is repatriated where appropriate.
Different measures of capital
In recognition of the requirements of different stakeholders, the Group measures its capital on a number of different
bases, all of which are taken into account when managing and allocating capital across the Group. These include
measures which comply with the regulatory regimes within which the Group operates and those which the directors
consider appropriate for the management of the business. The primary measures which the Group uses are:-
i) Accounting bases
The Group reports its results on both an IFRS and a European Embedded Value basis. The directors consider that the
European Embedded Value principles provide a more meaningful measure of the long term underlying value of the
capital employed in the Group's life and related businesses. This basis allows for the impact of uncertainty in
the future investment returns more explicitly and is consistent with the way the life business is priced and
managed. Accordingly, in addition to IFRS, we analyse and measure the net asset value and total capital employed
for the Group on this basis. This is the basis on which Group Return on Equity is measured and against which the
corresponding Group target is expressed.
ii) Regulatory bases
Individual regulated subsidiaries measure and report solvency based on applicable local regulations, including in
the UK the regulations established by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). These measures are also consolidated
under the European Insurance Groups Directive to calculate regulatory capital adequacy at an aggregate
Group level. The Group has fully complied with these regulatory requirements during the year.
iii) Rating agency bases
The Group's ratings are an important indicator of financial strength and maintenance of these ratings is one of
the key drivers of capital risk appetite. Certain rating agencies have proprietary capital models which they use
to assess available capital resources against capital requirements, as a component of their overall criteria for
assigning ratings. In addition, rating agency measures and targets in respect of gearing and fixed charge cover
are important in evaluating the level of borrowings utilised by the Group. While not mandatory external
requirements, in practice rating agency capital measures tend to act as one of the primary drivers of capital
requirements, reflecting the capital strength required in relation to our target ratings.
iv) Economic bases
The Group also measures its capital using an economic capital model that takes into account a more realistic set
of financial and non-financial assumptions. This model has been developed considerably over the past few years
and is increasingly relevant in the internal management and external assessment of the Group's capital resources.
The economic capital model is used to assess the Group's capital strength in accordance with the Individual
Capital Assessment (ICA) requirements established by the FSA. Further developments are planned to meet the
emerging requirements of the Solvency II framework.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 14
Accounting basis and capital employed by segment
The table below shows how our capital, on an EEV basis, is deployed by segment and how that capital is funded.
2007 2006
£m £m
Long-term savings 23,272 20,094
General insurance and health 5,487 5,176
Other business including fund management 1,056 1,059
Corporate * (31) (19)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total capital employed 29,784 26,310
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Financed by:
Equity shareholders funds 20,253 17,531
Minority interests ** 3,131 2,137
Direct capital instrument 990 990
Preference shares 200 200
Subordinated debt 3,054 2,937
External debt 1,257 1,258
Net internal debt 899 1,257
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
29,784 26,310
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Net asset value per share - EEV basis 772p 683p
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* The 'Corporate' net liabilities represent the element of the pension scheme deficit held centrally.
** Minority interests have increased to £3,131 million (2006: £2,137 million) due to foreign exchange movement,
capital contributions from property investment vehicles and acquired subsidiaries, primarily Cajamurcia and Avipop.
At 31 December 2007 the Group had £29.8 billion (restated 31 December 2006: £26.3 billion) of total capital employed in
its trading operations, measured on an EEV basis. The significant increase in shareholders' funds reflects the strong
operational performance in the period and foreign exchange impacts. Net asset value per ordinary share, based on equity
shareholders' funds, has grown to 772 pence per share (2006: 683 pence per share).
Total capital employed is financed by a combination of equity shareholders' funds, preference capital, subordinated
debt and borrowings. In addition to our external funding sources, we have certain internal borrowing arrangements in
place which allow some of the assets that support technical liabilities to be invested in a pool of central assets for
use across the Group. These internal debt balances allow for the capital allocated to business operations to exceed the
externally sourced capital resources of the Group. Although intra-group in nature, they are included as part of the
capital base for the purpose of capital management. These arrangements arise in relation to the following:
- Certain subsidiaries, subject to continuing to satisfy standalone capital and liquidity requirements, loan funds to
corporate and holding entities, these loans satisfy arms length criteria and all interest payments are made when due.
- Aviva International Insurance (AII) Ltd acts as both a UK general insurer and as the primary holding company for the
Group's foreign subsidiaries. Internal capital management mechanisms in place allocate a portion of the total capital
of the company to the UK general insurance operations. These mechanisms also allow for some of the assets backing
technical liabilities to be made available for use across the Group. Balances in respect of these arrangements are
also treated as internal debt for capital management purposes.
Net internal debt represents the balance of the above amounts due from corporate and holding entities, less the
tangible net assets held by these entities.
Financial leverage, the ratio of the Group's external senior and subordinated debt to EEV capital and reserves was 17%
(2006: 20%). Fixed charge cover, which measures the extent to which external interest costs, including subordinated
debt interest and preference dividends, are covered by EEV operating profit was 9.8 times (2006: 10.3 times).
Regulatory bases
Regulatory basis - Group: European Insurance Groups Directive
31 December 2007 31 December 2006
Insurance Groups Directive (IGD) excess solvency £3.1 billion £3.5 billion
Cover (times) over EU minimum 1.6 times 1.8 times
The Group has a regulatory obligation to have positive solvency on a regulatory IGD basis at all times. The Group's
risk management processes ensure adequate review of this measure. At 31 December 2007, the estimated excess regulatory
capital was £3.1 billion (31 December 2006: £3.5 billion). This measure represents the excess of the aggregate value of
regulatory capital employed in our business over the aggregate minimum solvency requirements imposed by local
regulators, excluding the surplus held in the Group's UK life funds. The minimum solvency requirement for the Group's
European businesses is based on the Solvency I Directive. In broad terms, for EU operations, this is set at 4% and 1%
of non-linked and unit-linked life reserves respectively and for Aviva's general insurance portfolio of business is the
higher of 18% of gross premiums or 26% of gross claims, in both cases adjusted to reflect the level of reinsurance
recoveries. For the Group's major non-European businesses (the US, Australia and Canada) a risk charge on assets and
liabilities approach is used. The IGD is a pure aggregation test with no credit given for the considerable
diversification benefits of Aviva.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 15
Our excess solvency of £3.1 billion reflects a net decrease of £0.4 billion since 31 December 2006, driven by increased
capital resource requirements due to changes in regulatory rules and a strengthening of the Group's approach to the
calculation of the resource requirement. These additional requirements offset the growth in resources due to strong
operational performance.
Regulatory basis - General insurance and International
Our principal UK general insurance regulated subsidiaries are Aviva International Insurance group (AII) and Norwich
Union Insurance (NUI). During 2007, NUI was transferred to become a subsidiary of the AII Group, bringing all of the UK
general insurance operations under AII. The combined businesses of the AII group have a strong solvency position as set
out in the table below. On an aggregate basis the estimated excess solvency margin (representing the regulatory value
of excess available assets over the required minimum margin) amounted to £3.7 billion (31 December 2006: £3.8 billion)
after covering the minimum capital base of £5.5 billion (31 December 2006: £4.5 billion).
31 December 2007 31 December 2006
AII group AII Group - pro forma
including NUI
Capital resources £9.2bn £8.3 bn
Capital resources requirement £5.5bn £4.5 bn
Solvency surplus £3.7bn £3.8 bn
Cover 1.7 times 1.8 times
Regulatory basis - Long-term businesses
For the Group's non-participating worldwide life assurance businesses, our capital requirements, expressed as a
percentage of the EU minimum, are set for internal management and embedded value reporting purposes as the higher of:
- Target levels set by reference to internal risk assessment and internal objectives, taking account of the level
of operational, demographic, market and currency risk
- Minimum capital level (i.e. level of solvency capital at which local regulator is empowered to take action)
The required capital across the Group's life businesses varies between 100% and 250% of EU minimum or equivalent.
During the year, we reduced the required capital for the UK annuity business from 150% to 100% of required minimum
margin, bringing it into line with the remainder of the non-profit portfolio. The weighted average level of required
capital for the Group's non-participating life business, expressed as a percentage of the EU minimum (or equivalent)
solvency margin has decreased to 130% (31 December 2006: 134%) reflecting the reduction in the level of required
capital for the UK annuities business.
These levels of required capital are used in the calculation of the Group's embedded value to evaluate the cost of
locked in capital. At 31 December 2007 the aggregate regulatory requirements based on the EU minimum test amounted to
£5.1 billion (31 December 2006: £4.3 billion). At this date, the actual net worth held in the Group's long-term
business was £10.5 billion (31 December 2006: £8.9 billion) which represents 205% (31 December 2006: 206%) of these
minimum requirements.
Regulatory basis - UK Life with-profit funds
The available capital of the with-profit funds is represented by the realistic inherited estate. The estate represents
the assets of the long-term with-profit funds less the realistic liabilities for non-profit policies within the funds,
less asset shares aggregated across the with-profit policies and any additional amounts expected at the valuation date
to be paid to in-force policyholders in the future in respect of smoothing costs, guarantees and promises. Realistic
balance sheet information is shown below for the three main UK with-profit funds; CGNU Life, Commercial Union Life
Assurance Company (CULAC) and Norwich Union Life & Pensions (NUL&P). These realistic liabilities have been included
within the long-term business provision and the liability for insurance and investment contracts on the Group's IFRS
balance sheet at 31 December 2007 and 31 December 2006. Aviva recently announced a one off special bonus of £2.3
billion in respect of the CGNU Life and CULAC with-profit funds, the impact of this special bonus is reflected in the
numbers presented below.
31 December 2007 31
December
2006
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated Estimated Estimated
realistic realistic Realistic inherited Estimated risk Estimated Estimated
assets liabilities*,** estate*** capital margin^ excess excess
£bn £bn £bn £bn £bn £bn
CGNU Life 14.5 (13.1) 1.4 (0.3) 1.1 2.0
CULAC 13.9 (12.7) 1.2 (0.4) 0.8 2.0
NUL&P^^ 26.1 (24.2) 1.9 (0.6) 1.3 1.2
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aggregate 54.5 (50.0) 4.5 (1.3) 3.2 5.2
=======================================================================================================================
* These realistic liabilities include the shareholders' share of future bonuses of £1.2 billion (31 December 2006:
£0.7 billion). Realistic liabilities adjusted to eliminate the shareholders' share of future bonuses are
£48.8 billion (31 December 2006: £48.6 billion).
** These realistic liabilities make provision for guarantees, options and promises on a market consistent stochastic
basis. The value of the provision included within realistic liabilities is £0.7 billion, £0.8 billion and
£3.0 billion for CGNU Life, CULAC and NUL&P respectively (31 December 2006: £0.5 billion, £0.7 billion and
£3.0 billion for CGNU Life, CULAC and NUL&P respectively).
*** Estimated realistic inherited estate at 31 December 2006 was £2.5 billion, £2.5 billion and £1.8 billion for CGNU
Life, CULAC and NUL&P respectively. The distribution has resulted in a £2.3 billion reduction in the estimated
realistic inherited estate.
^ The risk capital margin (RCM) is 3.5 times covered by the inherited estate (31 December 2006: 4.2 times). The RCM
is lower as a result of de-risking the cost of guarantees.
^^ The NUL&P fund includes the Provident Mutual (PM) fund which has realistic assets and liabilities of £2.1 billion
and therefore does not impact the realistic inherited estate.
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Investment mix
The aggregate investment mix of the assets in the three main with-profit funds
at 31 December 2007 was:
31 December 2007 31 December 2006
% %
Equity 37% 42%
Property 13% 16%
Fixed interest 37% 36%
Other 13% 6%
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100% 100%
=======================================================================================================================
The equity backing ratios, including property, supporting with-profit asset shares are 75% in CGNU Life and CULAC and
70% in NUL&P. New with-profit business is mainly written through CGNU Life.
A de-risking strategy has been implemented in CGNU Life and CULAC to protect the estate from variations in equity and
property values. While the asset mix for funds backing policyholder liabilities was unchanged by this, the de-risking
involved the reduction of the equity proportion of the assets backing the cost of guarantees and the inherited estate
by approximately £2 billion.
Potential reattribution of inherited estate
Aviva's negotiations with the Policyholder Advocate, Clare Spottiswoode, regarding the potential reattribution of the
remainder of the inherited estates of CGNU Life and CULAC continue. We are keen to bring this to a conclusion soon
so that we can put an offer to policyholders as early as possible. We will only complete this process if we are able to
negotiate an arrangement that is fair to policyholders and shareholders.
Regulatory basis - Solvency II
Solvency II represents new legislation which proposes a fundamental review of the capital adequacy regime for the
European insurance industry. It aims to establish a revised set of EU-wide capital requirements and risk management
standards that will replace the current requirements applicable to European insurance firms and groups. Solvency II is
a unique opportunity to modernise the regulation of insurance companies and groups. Aviva is fully committed to
contributing to the success of Solvency II and continues to play an active role in its development through
participation in the consultation and quantitative impact studies run by the European Commission and European
regulators, as well as working with industry forums and working parties. Solvency II has the potential to align
regulatory capital with internal risk processes and measures, provided the possible problems and pitfalls are avoided.
While the proposed regime is still at an early stage, the progress has been encouraging; the European Commission
published its draft proposal for the high level principles, 'Level 1 Framework Directive', in July 2007 and it is
envisaged that the full suite of rules will be in place by the end of 2010, with full implementation by 2012.
Rating agency bases
Ratings are important in supporting access to debt capital markets and in providing assurance to business partners and
policyholders over the financial strength of the Group and its ability to service contractual obligations. In
recognition of this, the Group has solicited rating relationships with a number of rating agencies. Rating agencies
generally assign ratings based on an assessment of a range of financial (e.g. capital strength, gearing and fixed
charge cover ratios) and non-financial (e.g. competitive position and quality of management) factors. Managing our
capital and liquidity position in accordance with the Group's target rating levels is a core consideration in all
material capital management and capital allocation decisions.
Economic bases
The Group uses a risk based capital model to assess its economic capital requirements and to aid in risk and capital
management across the Group. This model is used to support the Group's Individual Capital Assessments which are
reported to the FSA for all UK regulated insurance businesses.
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Page 17
This model is based on a framework for identifying the risks that business units, and the Group as a whole, are exposed
to. The FSA now uses the results of our ICA process when setting target levels of capital for the UK regulated
businesses. In line with FSA requirements, the ICA estimates the capital required to mitigate the risk of insolvency to
a 99.5% confidence level over a one year time horizon (equivalent to events occurring in 1 out of 200 years)
against financial and non-financial tests. Our ICA uses a mixture of scenario based approaches and stochastic
economic capital models. Tests covering investment and insurance scenarios are specified centrally to provide
consistency across businesses and to achieve a minimum standard. Where appropriate, businesses may also supplement
these with tests specific to their own situation. In aggregating the various risk tests at business unit and Group
level, we allow for correlation effects between different risks as well as diversification benefits. This means that
the aggregate sum of the risks is less than the sum of all of the individual risks.
Financial modelling techniques enhance our practice of active risk and capital management, ensuring sufficient capital
is available to protect against unforeseen events and adverse scenarios. Our aim continues to be the optimal usage of
capital through appropriate allocation to our businesses. We continue to develop our economic capital modelling
capability for all our businesses as part of our development programme to increase the focus on economic capital
management.
Capital Generation and Utilisation
As part of its capital management processes, the Group regularly reviews the generation and deployment of capital. The
table below demonstrates the net capital generation of the Group on a regulatory basis. The net capital generated can
be considered as a measure of the change in the Group's surplus capital on a regulatory basis. A reconciliation of the
movement in IGD surplus is also shown.
2007 2006
£bn £bn
Operational capital generation:
Life in-force profits 1.9 1.7
New business strain (0.6) (0.6)
Non-life profits 0.6 1.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operational capital generated 1.9 2.1
Increase in capital requirements (0.5) (0.5)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Free operational capital generated 1.4 1.6
Interest costs (0.2) (0.2)
External dividend (0.9) (0.8)
Scrip dividend 0.3 0.2
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Capital generated after financing costs 0.6 0.8
1.4 1.6
Investment return variances and economic assumption changes 0.2 0.5
Profit on disposals 0.1 0.2
Capital raising - 1.1
Cost of acquisitions (0.6) (1.8)
Qualifying assets acquired net of capital requirements 0.1 (0.3)
Pension funding and restructuring costs (0.1) (0.3)
Foreign exchange impact on surplus capital 0.2 (0.1)
Other - (0.1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Net capital generated 0.5 0.0
=======================================================================================================================
Reconciliation to movement in IGD surplus
Opening IGD surplus 3.5 3.6
Net capital generated 0.5 -
Regulatory changes (0.4) (0.1)
Additional capital requirement over regulatory minimum 0.4 0.6
Non-IGD qualifying capital generated within life funds (0.6) (0.4)
Minorities (0.2) (0.1)
Other (0.1) (0.1)
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Closing IGD surplus 3.1 3.5
=======================================================================================================================
Free operational capital generated represents the net of the following:
- Operating profits emerging on a statutory basis for the life in-force business, net of new business strain and
before any changes in inadmissible assets, and IFRS operating profits earned by the Group's non-life businesses.
- The increase in capital requirements of the Group's ongoing businesses. Capital requirements represent target
operating capital levels rather than regulatory minimum levels, as this is considered a better reflection of capital
utilised in the business. For the life businesses this is the capital used in the calculation of the Group's embedded
value to evaluate the cost of locked in capital. For general insurance businesses we have calculated target capital
based on two times the regulatory minimum. Where appropriate, the increase in capital requirements shown has been
adjusted for the impact of foreign exchange movements and other one off changes to required capital.
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Page 18
In arriving at net capital generated, the analysis additionally takes account of material non-operating items affecting
capital over the period. Material items in 2007 include the impact of investment return variances and economic
assumption changes and the impact of acquisitions in the year.
The reconciliation of the net capital generated to the movement in the Group's IGD surplus takes into account capital
generated within life funds which falls outside the perimeter of the Group's IGD calculation.
During the year, we have undertaken a number of proactive actions in relation to capital management:
- In the UK, Norwich Union generated operational capital of £0.3 billion through financial reinsurance, improving
the returns for shareholders through the use of leveraged capital. Norwich Union also recently completed
a capital transaction transferring to Swiss Re an economic interest in part of the UK Life policy book to be
administered by them under the outsourcing agreement made earlier in 2007, which comes into effect as this
business migrates to Swiss Re over 2008 and 2009.
- In the US, our Life business completed a transaction to offset the onerous capital requirements imposed by
regulation AXXX. The transaction relates to equity indexed life contracts including a no lapse guarantee. At the
end of 2007, approximately £0.1 billion of liability was ceded to a captive reinsurance company. The amount
ceded is expected to grow significantly in future years.
- Consistent with a focus on EPS growth, we have also announced the withdrawal of the current scrip dividend
scheme and the introduction of a Dividend Reinvestment Plan, which avoids new share issuance, from the 2008
interim dividend onwards.
- We also continue to actively manage our exposure to investment risk and in the second half of 2007 we reduced
our exposure to equity market volatility by selling £2.6 billion and £0.8 billion of equities in our general
insurance shareholder funds and the staff pension schemes respectively. These actions are consistent with our
ongoing focus on efficient capital management and enhancing returns to shareholders.
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Page 19
Glossary
Definitions of Group key performance indicators and other terms
Annual premium equivalent (APE) - Method for calculating life, pensions and investment new business levels. It
equals the total of new annualised regular premiums plus 10% of single premiums.
AII (previously named CGUII) - A principal UK general insurance company and the parent of the majority of the
Group's overseas general insurance and life assurance subsidiaries.
Combined operating ratio (COR) - The aggregate of incurred claims expressed as a percentage of earned premiums
and written expenses and written commissions expressed as a percentage of
written premiums.
Covered business - The contracts to which the EEV methodology has, in line with the EEV Principles,
been applied.
EU solvency - The excess of assets over liabilities and the world-wide minimum solvency
margins, excluding goodwill and the additional value of in-force long-term
business, and excluding the surplus held in the Group's life funds. The Group
solvency calculation is determined according to the UK Financial Services
Authority application of EU Insurance Groups Directive rules.
Financial Options and Guarantees - Features of the covered business conferring potentially valuable guarantees
underlying, or options to change, the level or nature of policyholder benefits
and exercisable at the discretion of the policyholder, whose potential value is
impacted by the behaviour of financial variables.
Free Surplus - The amount of any capital and surplus allocated to, but not required to support,
the in-force covered business.
Funds under management - Represents all assets actively managed or administered by or on behalf of the
Group including those funds managed by third parties.
Funds under management by Aviva - Represents all assets actively managed or administered by the fund management
operations of the Group.
Gross risk free yields - Gross of tax yields on risk free fixed interest investments, generally
Government bonds.
Holding Company - A legal entity with a function of being a consolidating entity for primary
financial reporting of covered business.
IFRS operating profit - From continuing operations on an IFRS basis, stated before tax attributable to
shareholders' profits, impairment of goodwill, and exceptional items.
Implicit items - Amounts allowed by local regulators to be deducted from capital amounts when
determining the EU required minimum margin.
Inherited estate - The assets of the long-term with-profit funds less the realistic reserves for
non-profit policies, less asset shares aggregated across the with-profit
policies and any additional amounts expected at the valuation date to be paid
to in-force policyholders in the future in respect of smoothing costs and
guarantees.
Life EEV operating return - Operating return on the EEV basis relating to the lines of business included in
the embedded value calculations. From continuing operations and is stated
before tax, impairment of goodwill and exceptional items.
Life EEV return - Total return on the EEV basis relating to the lines ofbusiness included in the
embedded value calculations.From continuing operations.
Look-through basis - Inclusion of the capitalised value of profits and losses arising from subsidiary
companies providing administration, investment management and other services to
the extent that they relate to covered business.
Net asset value per ordinary share - Net asset value divided by the number of ordinary shares in issue. Net asset
value is based on equity shareholders'funds.
New business contribution - Is calculated using the same economic assumptions as those used to determine
the embedded values at the beginning of each year and is stated before tax and
the effect of required capital.
Net worth - The market value of the shareholders' funds and the shareholders' interest in
the surplus held in the non-profit component of the long-term business funds,
determined on a statutory solvency basis and adjusted to add back any non-
admissible assets, and consists of the required capital and free surplus.
New business margin - New business margins are calculated as the new business contribution divided by
the present value of new business premiums (PVNBP), and expressed as a
percentage. Previously, under the Achieved Profits basis, they were expressed
as new business contribution divided by premiums measured on an annual premium
equivalent (APE) basis.
Present value of new business - Present value of new regular premiums plus 100% of single premiums, calculated
premiums (PVNBP) using assumptions consistent with those used to determine new business
contribution.
Required Capital - The amount of assets, over and above the value placed on liabilities in respect
of covered business, whose distribution to shareholders is restricted.
Service companies - Companies providing administration or fund management services to the covered
business.
Solvency cover - The excess of the regulatory value of total assets over total liabilities,
divided by the regulatory value of the required minimum solvency margin.
Statutory Basis - The valuation basis and approach used for reporting financial statements to
local regulators.
Stochastic Techniques - Techniques that incorporate the potential future variability in assumptions
Time Value and Intrinsic Value - A financial option or guarantee has two elements of value, the time value and
intrinsic value. The intrinsic value is the discounted value of the option or
guarantee at expiry, assuming that future economic conditions follow best
estimate assumptions. The time value is the additional value arising from
uncertainty about future economic conditions.
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End of part 1 of 5
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange