Aviva profits jump following Direct Line acquisition
FTSE 100 insurance giant Aviva reported its operating profit for the first half of this year to be up 24 per cent, driven by the group’s “strong progress” following its acquisition of Direct Line in 2025.
The London-listed insurer, which offers home, car, and life insurance in the UK and serves approximately 25 million customers, said its overall operating profit surged to £1.3bn for the period ended 30 June 2026, up from £1.068bn a year earlier, due to its £3.6bn acquisition of Direct Line in July 2025.
Aviva’s general insurance premiums grew 29 per cent to £8.1bn, with UK and Ireland premiums up 42 per cent to £5.9bn.
The insurer’s wealth management arm business also grew 32 per cent to £7.6bn, driven by a new pension scheme and strong sales through its investment platform.
“We are making very good progress with the integration of Direct Line. We have quickly improved Direct Line’s profitability, grown price comparison website sales, and maintained excellent levels of customer service. We are well on track to deliver all the financial benefits of the acquisition,” chief executive Amanda Blanc said.
Blanc said the insurer is “confident that we will meet our three-year financial targets in 2028 and expect 75 per cent of our earnings to be capital-light by that point.”
Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said the results “further cements Aviva’s leading positions particularly in the home and car insurance markets.”
“While car insurance has seen a substantial increase in premiums to the exasperation of many consumers, the space has been affected by both higher average new car prices (equating to higher insured valuations) as well as the costly nature of repairing increasingly complex and technologically advanced vehicles,” Hunter said.
Insurers AI push
The insurance giant is also pushing the use of tech at the company as it continues to roll out AI across the business.
Aviva is using the data of its customer base to train its AI, which it said is are “major competitive advantages which will drive our future growth.”
The firm said it is “already delivering tangible benefits” from using AI in its medical underwriting division. Aviva also recently launched a generative AI tool to read and summarise lengthy medical reports and extract relevant information.
The insurer is also planning to launch an AI virtual assistant later in the year, alongside the rollout of AI-enabled claims agents to support customers.