It must be because I spend too much of my time dealing with the global quarterly corporate earnings season that when I see a bunch of UK corporate “trading update” announcements, I know that they will leave more questions unanswered than dealt with. To give the Americans or the Europeans their due, at least every three months any reasonable market cap company will punch out a good quarterly update and a conference call. However, among FTSE 350 names in the UK, good luck hoping for this.

Hello Share Splashers. Insurance can be counted as a defensive investment when times are hard, as they are now. People are drawn to increasing their security when world economies are in trouble. One of the biggest insurers is Aviva (AV.) with a market cap of more than £11 billion. And with size comes strength. Too big to fail?

Back in November I admitted that I still liked holding shares in insurance company Aviva (AV.) HERE. Today’s full year results may include a fall in profitability (thanks to the price-competitive world of life insurance), but…

It might be August, but Thursday is always a busy day for anyone following stock market updates. Today I could write (again) about TUI (TUI) or Entain (ENT) but frankly I said enough on the former back in May, and today’s update may be talking about rising numbers of holidaymakers (but it is still making a loss and has a bunch of corporate debt). Meanwhile the latter has been a really good holding for me over the last 20 months, albeit after a dodgy start. As I previously noted, I still conclude that taking profits over recent months has been very sensible, but it is fine to run a few still (as I do) if you wish. Today though I am going to write more about Aviva (AV.).

It has been a great last year for my investment in Aviva (AV.), shares in which have risen from just over 250p to above 400p in the last month or so. Certainly my view back in February was that the sale of its business in France, Poland, Italy and part of Asia struck me as a very sensible move. The completion of these deals is still set for later in the year – along with the anticipated return of capital. Elsewhere, ‘our positive trading performance in the first quarter of 2021 reinforces our confidence in the targets we announced earlier in the year…we still have much more to do, to deliver stronger returns for our shareholders’, which sounds like good movement.

One of my biggest positions over the last ten or eleven months has been the insurance company Aviva (AV.). I first bought the stock because I thought it was cheap but in August I realised that my main business rationale was now that its new CEO Amanda Blanc smartly was focusing on simplifying the business. Since then there have been some Asian sales but today’s announcement that it is exiting its French business is a very helpful step..

Hello Share Snafflers. In times of crisis, I like to favour insurance companies. They usually have big reserves and the wave of uncertainty that accompanies disasters means more people buy policies, for which they’re prepared to pay higher prices…

Forget reading the multi-part regulatory news disclosures from insurance behemoth Aviva (AV.) today, just click on the webcast re-run and listen to the first fifteen or twenty minutes presentation by the company’s new CEO Amanda Blanc. It has been a long time since I was so impressed by the initial clarity of expression in a large cap corporate turnaround plan…

Monday morning…and changes at the top of a couple of the largest UK financial sector stocks. Well - technically - only one change today and one to come. Let us deal with the latter first...

Hello, Share Shakers. Though I’ve written recently on how insurance companies may weather the virus crisis, I’ve not before specifically noted shares in Aviva (AV.). I hold some big insurance shares, but not in this jumbo even though I consider it to be one of the best...

Business first then pleasure. There were solid updates from two of my larger cap naps this morning in the form of GVC Holdings (GVC) and Aviva (AV.)…

More earnings season numbers dropped into the hopper this morning, so a quick move through three I have given views and opinions on over recent months…

Akin to the complete geek I am, I had an answer when recently asked the question which sector was the most difficult to analytically appraise. Forget technology or even biotechnology, my pick would be insurance because unlike the other two areas - which overtly often require specific knowledge - it can sucker you into thinking you have it cracked only to bite you where it hurts in ways and means you barely understand. So onto Aviva (AV.) whose full year numbers came out earlier today – and which has been in the news over recent months for being naughty boys by trying to undertake a compulsory purchase of some of its expensive preference shares…

Hello Share Swirlers. You may already know that I’m a supporter of big insurance groups. My Legal & General (LGEN) investment has risen by 210%, though it's taken five years or so to achieve it. My RSA investment has not been so successful, but it’s still a better performer than most in my bag.

Hello Share Swipers. Quite a few insurance policies of mine have been taken over by one firm which seems to flood the market these days. I refer to Aviva (AV.), a firm which knows a lot about generating cash.