Aviva paves way for acquistions - papers 2nd March

The paper says as it unveiled a near one-third increase in operating profits to more than £2.9 bn - driven by its best ever results in general insurance - Aviva said it would be upping the final dividend payment by 9% to 17.44p. The move takes the final payout to investors to 27.27p, an increase of 7.5%. However, at the same time Aviva said it would scrap its target of increasing future dividends by 5%, in a move it said was designed to "improve flexibility while investing for future growth". Removing its informal obligation to increase dividend payments will help Aviva increase its s...