Panmure Gordon reiterates buy on Aviva

All key metrics at Aviva are moving the right direction Panmure Gordon said on Thursday.

Life value of new business did particularly well, rising by 20% over the past nine months to hit £823m, well above the £764m expected by analysts. General insurance also had a "good" quarter, with the so-called combined ratio falling to 94% from 9.59%.

The ratio is the proportion of an insurer´s losses and expenses as a percentage of underwriting profits, so a figure below 100% indicates profitability.

The integration of Friends Life will deliver much more than the market currently anticipates, analyst Barrie Cornes added.

Furthermore, at £10.1bn the company´s Economic capital surplus was "robust".

The broker added that the insurance group was "probably the most attractive looking" within its coverage universe.

The stock is trading on an IFRS earnings multiple of 9.8 for 2015 versus 15.4 for its peers and at 4.4% the dividend yield is "not meagre".

For all of the above reasons, Panmure Gordon reiterated its recommendation to ´buy´with a target of 660p.