Manama: The Bahrain National Holding Company Group posted a strong overall performance, with net profit up 27% to BD3.8million in 2014.
The Group in a statement said that it had achieved improved financial results and continued growth in gross premiums as the board of directors of Bahrain National Holding Company reviewed and approved the consolidated results for 2014.
“I’m pleased on behalf of the Board of Directors to announce an increase of 27% in Net profit for the year to BD 3.8 million compared to BD 3 million for the same period in 2013.This was due to higher returns on our investment portfolio coupled with steady growth in underwriting profitability. The Group succeeded in its efforts to increase its direct business in Bahrain and won a number of large businesses in 2014 despite severe competition,” Farouk Almoayyed, Chairman of the Group, said.
“The medical insurance segment affected a turnaround in its profits after improving claims controls and efficiency. The Group’s comprehensive income increased to BD 4.6 million in 2014 as against BD 4.2 million in 2013. The Group posted a net profit of BD 193 thousand for the fourth quarter of 2014 compared to BD 673 thousand for the same period in 2013. The fall was primarily due to higher claims reported and higher claims reserving in the fourth quarter of 2014.”
“Gross Premiums grew by 3% to BD 25.7 million compared to BD 24.9 million in 2013 due to growth in General and Motor insurance. The net underwriting profit was BD2.4 million compared to BD 2.3 million in 2013. Group investment income increased by 17% to BD 3.4 million compared to BD 2.9 million in 2013, due to an increase in Income from portfolio investments as well as the increase in the share of profit from associates.”
He also added that the Groups total assets increased to BD 87.7 million in 2014 compared to BD 83.6 million in 2013 and achieved a return on equity of 8% for the year 2014 as compared to 6.7% for last year. The earnings per share have increased from 27.8 fils in 2013 to 33.6 fils in 2014.
In line with the Group’s consistent dividends policy and taking into account the performance in 2014, the Board of Directors is recommending a dividend of 20% to the shareholders, subject to approval of concerned authorities and the shareholders at the Annual General Meeting.
“Whereas the Bahrain National Life Insurance recorded net profit of BD 871 thousand compared to BD 156 thousand in 2013, this subsidiary posted a profits of BD139 thousand in the last quarter of 2014 versus a loss of BD69 thousand for the same period in 2013.”
“The Group made significant progress in its general insurance business while the profitability of the life and medical business improved substantially. Our focused approach helped us to secure large government tenders and corporate businesses while maintaining steady growth in its SME business as well. Regional investment markets were volatile towards the last quarter of 2014; however our prudent and diversified approach helped us to maintain excellent investment returns. Our associates reported better results in 2014 and, we have added to our stake in those associate companies with strong long term potential and strategic benefit to the Group. In the future, we shall continue our focus on improving internal processes and investing in our systems and people in order to improve our product offering and customer services,” he added.