Direct Line, Aviva and RSA Insurance Withdraw 2019 Dividends

By Sabela Ojea

Aviva PLC, Direct Line Insurance Group PLC and RSA Insurance Group PLC said Wednesday that their boards have decided to withdraw their final dividends due to the coronavirus.

The London-listed insurance companies all said that this decision has been made following instructions from regulators such as the Financial Conduct Authority.

Aviva said that it expects to reconsider any distributions to ordinary shareholders in the fourth quarter of 2020, while Direct Line said that it would review them alongside its first-half earnings.

Aviva had declared a final dividend of 30.9 pence (37.9 cents) a share, RSA proposed a 23.1 pence dividend and Direct Line a 21.6 pence dividend.

All of them also said that they remain in a strong capital position and that their boards thought the most prudent thing to do was to suspend dividend payments.

Write to Sabela Ojea at sabela.ojea@wsj.com; @sabelaojeaguix

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 08, 2020 02:40 ET (06:40 GMT)

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