Aviva to reveal scale of claims for St Jude storm

The St Jude storm has resulted in a barrage of claims for damage. Picture: Getty

The life and general insurer is set to report on the three months to the end of September, but is tipped to also give an early estimate of claims from the worst storm to hit Britain in several years.

While fellow insurer AA has said the size of claims has been smaller than previous major storms, the sector has been hit by a barrage of claims for damaged cars, lost tiles and fallen walls after winds of up to 99 miles per hour lashed southern England and Wales.

Aviva is also expected to report more progress with its turnaround plan, which aims to save some £400 million.

In April it revealed plans to axe about 2,000 jobs, equivalent to 6 per cent of its global workforce.

The firm could also reveal scope for more savings as it expands digitally and through automation.

Shares in the insurer have rallied strongly since the spring, increasing by almost 50 per cent as the turnaround story wins over the City.

Analysts at JP Morgan said Aviva could report an increasingly upbeat story on cash flows as it simplifies the business.

They said: “Unwinding the old corporate structure into a new simpler one, along with improving economic solvency, bodes well for increasing cash remittances from subsidiaries to the holding company.”

August’s half-year results showed that Aviva made a profit of £776m, against losses of £624m a year earlier.

Costs at the group, which employs some 2,500 staff at Bishopbriggs and Perth, fell 9 per cent, or £147m, to £1.5 billion as part of its aim to save £400m.

Chief executive Mark Wilson admitted that “tackling our legacy issues will take time”.

Recently, it emerged that Wilson had begun wooing investors in the United States and Canada in an attempt to widen the group’s shareholder base.