Aviva 9-mth new business rises 25 pct to $1.26 bln

LONDON, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 29 (Reuters) - British insurer Aviva (Amsterdam: AW8.AS - news) 's value of new business rose 25 percent in the first nine months of 2015 to 823 million pounds ($1.26 billion), the firm said on Thursday, following the acquisition of rival Friends Life (Other OTC: RSLLF - news) earlier in the year.

The firm's combined operating ratio, a key measure of performance in its general insurance business, strengthened by 1.9 percentage points from a year earlier, to 94 percent. A number below 100 percent indicates a profit.

Aviva (Other OTC: AIVAF - news) said it had achieved cost savings of 91 million pounds so far from the Friends Life merger, against a 225 million target.

"The acquisition of Friends Life is everything we expected it to be," chief executive Mark Wilson said in a trading statement, adding that for the firm, "there exists significant upside from better capital allocation and a more effective digital customer proposition".

JP Morgan analysts called the results "a reassuring set of numbers", reiterating their 'overweight' rating on the stock. ($1 = 0.6546 pounds) (Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; editing by Simon Jessop)