Before we sold our hotel properties we insured much of our business with AVIVA formerly Norwich Union. As you may recollect we resolved to reinvest in shares in companies operating hotels, catering contracts and those which build bedrooms, but there was one exception to this plan for our future KEY investments. It was our former insurance company which was suffering from several years of management problems ,it had poorly performing subsidiaries in some countries and it urgently needed and was expected to make major changes to its Board of Directors.
The investment we made less than two years ago at £3.65 per share was justified yesterday after two years of new management with the proposed acquisition of Friends Life Insurance by Aviva and the Aviva share price rising to £5.15 per share, giving us a profit of 40 percent to date. The likelihood is that things will continue to improve from now on as Aviva regains the high reputation it had some 10 years ago, for with the acquisition of Friends Life the combined group will be the biggest in the UK in terms of number of customers viz. 16,000,000 policy holders.
When one looks back seven years the share price was about £8.00 per share!