CIC Insurance Group has registered 852 million shillings in profits before tax for the year ending December 31, 2018.
According to a statement from the company, the current profit represents a 64 percent increase from 519 million shillings posted over the same period in 2017. The company’s profit after tax jumped to 625 million shillings, up from 478 million shillings recorded in 2017.
Gross written premiums increased by 11 percent from 14.9 billion shillings in 2017 to 16.6 billion shillings in 2018, indicating that the group is growing faster than the industry.
Investment income remained level at 1.5 billion shillings reflecting the tough investment landscape in the country in 2018.
Property valuations remained fairly flat hence the improvement in profitability is largely from the insurance business. “As a group, we have continued to focus more on underwriting profit – not investment income per se,” said Mr.Gitogo.
During the period under review, operating expenses dropped from 4.9 billion shillings in 2017 to 4.6 billion shillings occasioned by the Group’s focus on cost containment measures.
The Group registered an 8 percent growth in its total assets to 33 billion shillings in 2018. Earnings per share increased from 0.18 in 2017 to 0.24 in 2018. The directors have recommended the payment of a first and final dividend of 0.13 shillings per share totaling 340,025,000 shillings (against 0.12 shillings amounting to 313,869,000 shillings paid out in 2017).
“With the completion of the rebranding exercise, investment in administration systems for our insurance businesses, as well as continued enhancement of efficiency and customer service, the board is confident that this will see continued growth in performance by the company”, Mr. Gitogo added.