Aviva share price slides as group points to ‘muted’ outlook

Shares in Aviva (LON:AV) have fallen deep into the red in today’s session, as the company updated investors on its full-year performance, cautioning that it will be ‘difficult to sustain momentum’ this year, amid Brexit worries. The update comes after earlier this week, the blue-chip insurer appointed Maurice Tulloch, chief executive officer for the group’s International Insurance business, to the top job.

As of 09:04 GMT, Aviva’s share price had given up 2.99 percent to 420.35p. The stock is underperforming the broader UK market, with the benchmark FTSE 100 index currently standing 0.42 percent lower at 7,165.97 points. The insurer’s shares have lost more than 17 percent of their value over the past year, as compared with about a 0.2-percent gain in the Footsie.

Aviva updates on performance

Aviva announced in a statement this morning that its operating earnings per share had climbed seven percent to 58.4p last year, while its operating profit came in two percent higher at £3.12 billion. The company announced a final dividend per share of 20.75p, taking its total dividend for 2018 to 30.0p, up from the prior year’s 27.4p per share.

Group cautious on outlook

Going forward, however, Aviva’s chief financial officer Thomas Stoddard cautioned that given  current uncertainties, including the unknown future impacts of Brexit on the UK and European economies, the insurer’s “near-term outlook entering 2019 is more muted than our outlook a year ago”.

The blue-chip group further noted that its capital management plan will prioritise debt reduction for the foreseeable future, while noting that it was “moving to a progressive dividend policy, which will see the dividend maintained or grown over time depending on business performance and growth prospects”.

As of 09:27 GMT, Thursday, 07 March, Aviva plc share price is 420.35p.