Aviva jumps on share buyback report

Aviva shares were on the rise on Monday following a report that suggested the insurer is planning a £1bn buyback of its stock.

Chief executive Mark Wilson is expected to reveal plans to spend more than £1bn buying back its shares after building capital reserves, the Sunday Times said.

Wilson is also expected to signal the repayment of expensive bonds, as well as further small corporate acquisitions.

JPMorgan Cazenove said the amount compared with its expectation of £0.3bn per annum for 2017-2019.

If announced, Cazenove analysts said they believed the news would be taken positively by the market because it would "imply that management is looking to accelerate the cash flow deployment plan from cash received from recent disposals and strong subsidiary cash flows" as well as helping support earning per share growth that has been recently impacted by disposals of some European businesses.