Aviva share price in focus as insurer unveils plans to close offices

Aviva Plc (LON:AV) plans to shut down three offices over the next 18 months, the blue-chip insurer has said. The move comes with the company targeting £225 million a year in cost savings by 2017 following its merger with blue-chip peer Friends Life earlier this year.

Aviva’s share price has inched higher in today’s session, having added 0.20 percent to 506.50p as of 13:37 BST. The shares are outperforming the broader market with the benchmark FTSE 100 having slipped into negative territory.
The company said in a statement yesterday that it would be closing offices in Salisbury, Stretford and Salford over the next 18 months to focus on its ‘core locations’ in the UK. Aviva added that it would also reduce its presence in Dorking, as well as in Exeter and Manchester city centre.
“We appreciate this is disappointing and difficult news for some of our employees,” the company said in the statement, adding that it would look to minimise the impact by offering redeployment opportunities where possible. A company spokesman told the BBC that it was too early to say how many jobs would go.
“Any role reductions which may occur as a result of Aviva’s integration with Friends Life will form part of the potential reduction of 1,500 roles we announced in January 2015,” the company pointed out in the statement. The office closures come in the wake of Aviva’s merger with Friends Life which is expected to generate £225 million of annual savings by the end of 2017. Last month, the FTSE 100 insurance giant said that Friends Life’s London headquarters was to be closed, and that an office in Exeter was being moved to smaller premises.
As of 14:17 BST, Tuesday, 16 June, Aviva plc share price is 505.75p.

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