Chief executive Dame Amanda Blanc’s £3.7bn bet taking over motor insurer Direct Line has paid off, helped by the number of its sales through price comparison sites increasing since its takeover.

Operating profits for the group rose to £1.33 billion for the first six months to June 30 from £1.07bn for the same period last year, exceeding the forecasted £1.26bn in its company-compiled consensus.

The group’s operating earnings per share rose by 10% to 31.8p, while IFRS return on equity increased from 18.2% to 20.3%. Its cash remittances soared to £1.49 billion from £1.022bn - a 47% increase.

The interim dividend was increased to 14.0p per share from 13.1p. Aviva’s IFRS profit fell from £819m to £418m - reflecting restructuring and other non-operating costs.

The British insurer has diversified its model to help weather market volatility exacerbated by the Middle East conflict and softening catastrophe and property rates. Aviva offers life, car and home insurance across Britain, Ireland and Canada.

Its UK and Ireland general insurance gross written premiums had increased by 42% to £5.91bn from £4.14bn, supported by its acquisition of Direct Line. The group’s general insurance operating profit increased from £648m to £905m, with the UK and Ireland operating profit rising by 50% to £643m.

Its undiscounted combined operating ratio improved to 93.4% as its UK personal lines premiums nearly doubled to £3.68bn. It noted its wealth division also recorded stronger momentum with net flows up to £7.6bn and assets under management reached £261bn.

Total Group assets under management at Aviva Group were £479 bn, as of June 30.

Aviva stated in its annual results that it continued to make “strong progress on the Direct Line integration”, informing shareholders it had completed the transfer of all of its employees to Aviva.

It added: “Importantly, we are maintaining high standards of customer service, with TNPS above 50 and improved motor claims satisfaction. We have also transferred nearly £5bn of assets to Aviva Investors.

“Direct Line performance continues to improve, with stronger profitability supported by improved written CORs, and a return to growth in motor on PCWs where policies grew 7% this year.”

£100m of run-rate cost synergies have been delivered towards its £225m cost synergy ambition and the firm claimed it remained on track to deliver around £350m capital synergies by the end of the year.

Dame Amanda said: “We are making very good progress with the integration of Direct Line. We have quickly improved Direct Line’s profitability, grown price comparison website sales, and maintained excellent levels of customer service. We are well on track to deliver all the financial benefits of the acquisition.

“We are confident that we will meet our three-year financial targets in 2028 and expect 75% of our earnings to be capital-light by that point. Beyond this, Aviva is in a great position to sustain strong earnings growth over the longer term, particularly in the high growth areas of Wealth, UK and Canada general insurance, global corporate and specialty, and health and protection.

“Our broad and now expanded range of products, 25 million strong customer base, market leading brand, and the rich and extensive data we have, are major competitive advantages which will drive our future growth.”