Aviva to return £4.75 billion: ‘shows our confidence in the business’

Aviva plc (LON: AV) on Wednesday said it will return £4.75 billion ($6.34 billion) to shareholders, including the existing stock repurchase programme worth £1.0 billion.

Important points in Aviva 2021 financial report

Shares jumped 4.0% this morning but submitted the entire intraday gain before closing bell as the full-year pre-tax profit came in sharply lower than last year.

• Pre-tax profit of £801 million was down roughly 56% on a year-over-year basis.
• At £8.80 billion, gross premiums hit a record high in over a decade.
• Adjusted operating profit slid from £1.81 billion to £1.63 billion, as per the press release.
• Solvency II ratio stood at 244% versus 202% at the end of the previous year.
• Declared 14.7 pence of final dividend, bringing total to 22.05 pence.

Also on Wednesday, Aviva said it will acquire Succession Wealth for £385 million.

Dividend and CEO Blanc’s remarks

According to the British multinational, it will raise its per-share dividend by 40% in 2022 to 31.5 pence. For fiscal 2023, it forecasts another 5.0% or less increase in dividend. On CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe”, CEO Amanda Blanc said:

The global central banks are likely to be less hawkish in raising rates and addressing inflation this year, now that Russia has started a war in Ukraine. As per the chief executive, the numbers account for such impact related to the geopolitical tensions.