Date: April 11, 2019
General Accident Insurance Company Limited (GENAC), audited results for the year ended December 31, 2018 reported Gross premium written of $8.74 billion, 23% higher than the $7.11 billion reported for 2017. Reinsurance ceded rose 21% to close at $6.75 billion relative to $5.56 billion booked in 2017. Excess of loss reinsurance trended up by 40% to $127.75 million (2017: $91.36 million).
As a result, net premium written increased by 28% from $1.46 billion last year to $1.86 billion. Net premium written for the fourth quarter amounted to $543.67 million relative to $416.04 million booked for the corresponding period in 2017.
Net changes in unearned premiums totaled $231.86 million, 79% higher than the $129.44 million recorded last year. Consequently, net premiums earned grew by 23% to a total of $1.63 billion compared to $1.33 billion for the prior year. For the quarter, net premium earned totaled $432.26 million compared to $364.78 million booked for the similar quarter of 2017.
Commission income grew by 22%, year over year, from $568.04 million in 2017 to $695.67 million in 2018, while commission expenses increased by 22% from $273.59 million to $334.25 million.
Claims expenses saw a decrease of 6%, closing the period at $1.02 billion (2017: $1.09 billion), while management expenses climbed by 39% to total $794.06 million compared to the 2017 total of $572.29 million.
Underwriting profit for the year totaled of $174.77 million, this compares to a loss of $35.53 million in 2017. The company also made an underwriting profit of $202.46 million relative to a loss of $705,000 within the fourth quarter.
Investment income closed at $174.68 million, a 47% decline when compared with last year’s $328.38 million, while other income totaled $47.04 million, relative to a loss of $25.83 million in 2017. Other operating expenses grew by 42% to $43.92 million relative to $30.95 million in 2017.
Profit before taxation amounted to $352.57 million (2017: $236.08 million). Following taxes of $67.20 million (2017: $14.84 million), Net profit totaled $285.37 million for the period, an increase of 29% compared to the $221.24 million reported last year. Net profit for the quarter was $141.19 million, 2% less than the same period of 2017 which had net profits of $144.46 million.
Total comprehensive income amounted to $291.95 million (2017: $173.35 million) for the year ended December 31, 2018, a 68% uptick.
As such, earning per share for the period amounted to $0.28 (2017: $0.21) while EPS for the quarter amounted to $0.14 compared to $0.14 in 2017. The stock traded at $4.18 as at April 10, 2019. The number of shares used in our calculations amounted to 1,031,250,000 units.
Balance Sheet at a glance:-
Total Assets increased by 24% to $7.06 billion as at December 31, 2018 from $5.70 billion a year earlier. ‘Investment Securities’ contributed the most to the growth in assets with a 33% increase to $2.47 billion relative to $1.86 billion in 2017. However this was offset by the decline ‘Cash & Short Term Investments’ by $327.89 million to close the period at $656.14 million (2017: $984.04 million).
Shareholder’s Equity as at December 31, 2018 stood at $2.06 billion (2017: $1.94 billion) resulting in book value per share of $1.99 (2017: $1.88).
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