After years of underperformance, Aviva has been winning back confidence from investors. But those expecting the London-based group to win big from the jump in gilt yields unleashed by September’s mini-budget would be disappointed.
The rise in interest rates in recent months boosted its level of surplus capital to £2.5 billion at the end of the third quarter, up from £2.3 billion at the end of June. Even after paying the interim dividend, completing the acquisition of Succession Wealth and redeeming roughly £500 million in debt, that coverage ratio stood at 215 per cent, far above the 180 per cent upper threshold of its target range. On a pro-forma basis, that represents an increase of two percentage points on the end of June.
Yet that
