Britak Chairman Nicholas Ashford-Hodges and CEO Benson Wairegi at a past function/ FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 2 – The British American Investment Company has announced a Sh1.6 billion after tax profit for the first half of 2012.
The company which had made a loss of Sh198 million during the same period last year attributed the growth to the good returns from the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
Group Managing Director Benson Wairegi said post tax income went up to Sh2.8 billion, from a loss of Sh420 million in the same period last year.
“The profits have come about as a result of very strong growth in our top line which is premium income and asset management fees. Our results are also very core related with the performance at the capital markets, the growth in the value of the investments at the Nairobi Securities Exchange, “said Wairegi.
The insurance business grew by 29 percent to Sh3.3 billion from Sh2.6 billion registered in the same period last year while investment income grew Sh2.6 billion compared to a Sh54.9 million loss in the first half of 2011.
The company now hopes the revenue growth to continue in the remaining half of this year, with plans to invest in real estate, and execution of a Sh10 billion property and local expansion strategy with entry to new markets.
However Wairegi said its business in the region has not yet picked up due to the high operation costs.
“Our Uganda operations started in October/ November 2010. And because of the heavy investment in staff and all related expenses we have not started making money, “said Wairegi. “ Our operations in Sudan have actually been up and running for less than a month. So it is actually unrealistic to talk about performance of these businesses in financial terms.”
The company’s board of Directors has recommended no interim dividend to the shareholders.
