LONDON (Reuters) – Aviva posted a 35% rise in operating profit that trumped forecasts on Thursday, and pledged to pay a 300 million pound buyback to investors after navigating a volatile year in financial markets that pushed investment returns sharply lower.
Aviva reported operating profit of 2.2 billion pounds ($2.61 billion) for the year, up from 1.6 billion pounds the previous year and above the 1.75 billion pound average of analyst forecasts compiled by the company.
The FTSE 100 firm, under pressure from activist investor Cevian Capital to increase investor returns, also announced a final dividend of 20.7 pence per share.
($1 = 0.8438 pounds)
(Reporting by Iain Withers, Editing by Sinead Cruise)
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