Aviva Singapore

Aviva Singapore saw a 14 per cent increase in operating profit in fiscal 2018 to £125 million (S$223 million) from £110 million a year ago, driven by growth in the financial advisory channel in life insurance.

The insurer's value of new business (VNB) was up 25 per cent to £152 million from £123 million, with strong sales from the financial advisory channel and improved mix towards protection. VNB is a metric for measuring growth in the insurance industry.

In Singapore, the company grew its distribution network with 1,540 advisers versus 1,266 in 2017. These include 816 financial advisers versus the previous year's 673.

General insurance and health saw operating losses of 16 per cent, up from the previous year's 8 per cent loss. Aviva said it was impacted by the increased frequency of claims, and management is implementing remedial actions to improve the business. It has resumed a cash dividend payment of £6 million.

Yangzijiang

Shipbuilder Yangzijiang on Wednesday responded to queries from the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on its financial results for FY18, including a 233 million yuan (S$47 million) write-off of trade and other receivables.

It said the provision was for advance payment to a supplier that ran into financial difficulties and had ceased operations. The company plans to recover part of the advance payment via legal proceedings against the supplier.

It added that it had "made a thorough review" of the remaining trade and other receivables, and has appointed a team to review the financials of its debtor and carry out field investigation to mitigate the risk of impairment.

Yangzijiang also responded to SGX queries on its decrease in trade and other receivables.

It said the movement was due to forfeiture of security guarantee deposits from lessees and advances from construction contracts, amounting to 207 million yuan and 169 million yuan respectively. Other factors were the settlement of trade and other payables during the year.

It also elaborated on several disposals it made during the period that resulted in a drop in investment in financial assets, at fair value through profit or loss. The decrease was mainly due to the disposal of unlisted preference shares of a listed corporation in the third quarter of last year that was valued at 749 million yuan as of Dec 31, 2017. The remaining was due to disposal and fair-value movement of several other listed and unlisted equity securities in China over the year.