MANAMA: Shareholders of Bahrain Kuwait Insurance Company have approved the distribution of a cash dividend of 15 per cent (BD2,140,349) of the paid-up capital, excluding treasury shares.
The announcement follows the annual general meeting yesterday, which approved the appointment of Khalid Alhasan, Shawqi Fakroo, Dr Emad Bukhamseen, Bijan Khosrowshahi, Thamer Arab and Mubarak Al Ayyar as members of the board for the period 2020-2022.
Also, the AGM approved the election of Murad Ali Murad, Hasan Zainalabedin, Mohamed Zainal and Mohamed Alrayes to the new board.
Chairman Murad Ali Murad stated in his report the challenges being faced by the insurance industry during the year 2019 and the importance of using technology to keep pace with modern developments in the field of insurance.
He also said that business plan for the next three years has been approved, aimed at increased productivity in addition to maximising investment income and cost-saving in order to maintain the leading position in the insurance market in Bahrain.
Mr Murad explained the rationale behind the decrease in the company’s profits compared to the year before.
The following extraordinary expenses/provisions incurred by the company during the year, say (1) VAT on UPR of policies issued in 2018 and in force in 2019 which were not collected from customers (2) the compensation paid to the employees on the voluntary early retirement programme (3) the increase in technical reserves based on the external actuary’s recommendation report.
Mr Murad added that international rating agency AM Best has affirmed the credit rating of the company ‘A- with stable outlook’ after reviewing the company’s performance in 2019.
This rating reflects the company’s stability and the ability to meet all its financial obligations.
Chief executive Ebrahim Alrayes said that the fierce competition in the market has become a major concern for companies operating in the sector, especially in the motor and medical insurances.
The company achieved net premium revenue of BD33.3 million, compared to BD31.7m in the previous year, recording a growth of 5pc.
The loss ratio also improved, as it decreased from 76.8pc to 73.6pc. It reflected positively in technical profits which increased by 14pc from BD1.95m in 2018 to BD2.22m in 2019.
As for the future outlook, Mr Alrayes said: “Despite the instability of political and economic conditions in the world in general, we expected the company to achieve better results considering the fact that in 2019, it incurred some extraordinary expenses and an increase in insurance reserves that had a direct impact on profits. In addition, the company’s business plan aims towards limiting the increase in expenses. However, we must take into account the impact of the outbreak of Covid-19 in the global economy in general and Bahrain in particular.”
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